


Heads I Win Tails You Lose

by walkingcatfish (sexywhales)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Body Horror, But with a happy ending, Canon Divergence, Cuban Lance, Galra instincts au, Korean Keith, Lance is a walking shitpost, M/M, Minor Character Death, Not All Galra 2k48, Scars, Slow Burn, Some angst, a lil sexy, because i crave that representation, but not like burn so slow you forgot to turn on the stove, many alien oc's, nonbinary pidge, season 2 is mostly irrelevant, toward the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-10-21 08:38:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 52,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10681686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sexywhales/pseuds/walkingcatfish
Summary: Sometimes all it takes is one moment to change everything. Sometimes, one decision sets you down a path you were never prepared to take, leads you to a place you never thought you'd go.When Keith and Lance make a crash landing in the middle of a fight with the Galra, they find their moment in the eyes of a dying soldier whose words shake their view on the perpetrators of a 10,000 year war.





	1. Not All Soldiers

**Author's Note:**

> What's up! It's been a while since I've been on this side of a fic, but it feels good to be writing again! I started this off of a headcanon I had before season 2 came out, so most of s2 is irrelevant, though I did pull a few themes in. I guess think of it as canon divergence? It's mainly following Keith's POV but I throw in some Lance POV as it goes on.
> 
> So just some housekeeping before we dive in. This fic DOES include graphic descriptions of injury. ***Please be careful if you're uncomfortable reading about injuries dealing with the eye/face or hands.*** There's no major character death, but there are some minor character deaths so please be mindful of that as well. Also it gets kinda sexy later on. I'll put up warnings in the notes for specific chapters.
> 
> Warnings for this chapter: some blood and Lance's terrible sense of humor
> 
> ALSO THE BIGGEST OF SHOUTOUTS to Ikira for being my beta. You are my sun, my moon, my stars, the yin to my yang, the yeet to my yaint. Thank you from saving me from the numerous spelling and grammar errors that come with writing entire stories at two in the morning.

Ten years from now, this would probably be hilarious. But right then, at that very moment, Keith was regretting every decision he ever made leading up to that point.

As with all stupid ideas, it started with a bet. It was a harmless bet, really. Well, maybe not for the Galra fleet they were fighting, but relatively harmless overall.

“Will they ever let up? There’s gotta be at least 500 of these things,” Keith had said, referring to the droid fighters flanking the main ship.

“Betcha I can take out twice as many as you can, Keith,” Lance had said, already charging forward.

Keith, who had never once done anything reckless or impulsive in his life, immediately flew in after him, yelling back something about making Lance eat his words as Shiro sighed and promised to provide backup. It was business as usual, really, and it shouldn’t have ended  any differently than it normally did.

So why  _ the hell _ was Keith stranded on an alien planet, outside of his lion, huddled inside some abandoned rock hut in the middle of  a lightning-sandstorm that was blocking all communication with the castle-ship and all the other paladins?

_ Except _ , of course, for the paladin that was stranded with him.

“This is all your fault,” Keith said, glaring over at Lance where he sat a few feet away against the opposite wall.

“How is this  _ my _ fault!? You’re the one that got knocked into the planet’s atmosphere by that droid ship which, by the way, I destroyed  _ way _ more than you did so you definitely lost the bet,” Lance said, crossing his arms.

“Okay,  _ first of all, _ I destroyed like three times as many ships as you did.”

“Bullshit,” Lance coughed.

“Second of all, I was  _ fine _ before  _ you _ decided to chase after me and got us  _ both _ stuck in that storm.”

“Well  _ maybe _ if you had been more careful I wouldn’t have had to follow you to make sure you didn’t crash and  _ die _ . Alone. Outside of your lion. With no way to contact the others.”

“Oh, so you were trying to  _ keep me company _ ? Like I would choose being trapped in this super storm with  _ you _ to dying alone!”

“You wanna go die alone? Fuck you, go run directly into that lightning sand storm for all I care!”

“I would, if you didn’t get us trapped on this planet with like two times the gravity of Earth, so I can’t run!”

“That wasn’t my fault!”

“Everything is your fault!”

“What the hell is that even supposed to mean!”

“Shut up!”

“Ugh.”

They fell into a silence that Keith intended to perpetuate indefinitely. He leaned over to get a better look through the hole they’d crawled through to get inside, but the storm was still going strong, no sign of stopping anytime soon.

“I wonder if there’s a timer for how long our suits can give us air,” Lance wondered aloud. The masks hadn’t automatically opened upon entering the atmosphere, which meant the air was probably unbreathable. “Is there a screen anywhere that tells us how many ticks we have? That would really suck to just, like, run out of oxygen.”

Keith sighed, long and drawn out, rubbing his hand down the front of his helmet since he couldn't reach his face. “Thank you, Lance, for pointing out yet another thing I should be trying not to freak out about.”

Lance went to scratch the back of his head, shuffling awkwardly when he realized he couldn’t reach. “Sorry.”

The silence got uncomfortable after that. Keith frowned at the ground between his feet, head sagging between his knees.

“They’ll come for us soon, though,” Lance said. “Even if they can’t talk to us through the storm, they still saw us go down. They’ll come looking for us. Or something. It’ll be fine.”

“Yeah,” Keith said. “I guess.”

 

Half an hour passed with no sign of anything. Keith was starting to get bored, and Lance was obviously feeling it, too, with the way he was laying on the ground, arms splayed out and legs bent up against the wall. He stared at Keith upside-down, occasionally groaning incoherently as he did whenever he was bored and trying to be annoying.

After a particularly long break between dramatic moans Lance tried to initiate conversation. “Have you ever noticed how, like… the front of Galra ships just look like… giant irons?” he said.

Keith stared at the wall in front of him trying to decide if it was worth it to keep brooding and ignoring him. He wanted to say it was, but he really was bored. And fuck if he hadn’t had that exact thought the first time he saw a Galra ship. He nodded slowly.  “Yeah,” he said.

“Just like giant fucking clothes irons. It’s so hard to take them seriously like… what are they gonna do, iron all of our shirts until we submit? That’s a favor, not a threat.” Lance waved his arms around while he talked, which looked extra ridiculous while he was laying on the ground.

“You could iron a lot of shirts with an iron that big.”

“Right? It would be so fast, like, one press and you’re done.”

Keith nodded again.

“I wish I had an iron like that back at home. It would have made my chores go by so much faster.”

“You had to iron clothes as one of your chores?”

“For the whole family!” Lance said, throwing his arms in the air before letting them fall back with a dramatic  _ thump _ . “That’s like ten people’s worth of shirts.”

“Too bad the Galra didn’t invade Earth sooner.”

“If ten-year-old me had known he could get out of ironing by submitting to our galactic alien overlords, he woulda begged them.”

Keith laughed, for some reason.

“Did you have any chores you had to do growing up?” Lance asked.

Keith looked down at Lance, eyebrows drawn together and pointed at himself. “Orphan.”

“Right, right. But you still had things you had to do, right? Wherever you were?”

“I mean, I guess. I didn't really mind doing any of them though. And I definitely wasn't trusted with anything hot and metal, so no ironing for me.”

“I guess that makes sense. One time my little sister was bugging me while I was ironing and I threatened to like, brand her face with the iron and then I was grounded for the week.”

“That's so mean.”

“I know right? It's not like I was actually gonna do it.”

“No, dumbass, I meant that was mean of you to threaten your little sister.”

“What? No, no, she deserved a good scare.”

“I bet you scarred her for life.”

“Pff. Hardly. My other siblings were  _ way _ worse.”

“If you say so.”

The conversation died off again after that. How long had it been? An hour maybe? Keith was getting hungry. And his butt was sore from sitting on the hard dirt for so long. Of all the places to not have any armor, it had to be his butt. Allura had assured them that the material of their body suits was just as strong as any armor and really the harder parts of their suits were just for looks, but this situation really left Keith wanting for some butt padding. He shifted uncomfortably, trying to distribute his weight differently, but it wasn't helping much.

“Ass sore?” Lance asked.

“Uh… Yeah,” Keith answered.

“That's why I laid down. Not that it's much better.”

“Oh.” Well, it was a better explanation than Keith had had before.

“You would think an advanced alien race would see the benefits of proper padding. Instead it's more like a weird ass-bra.”

Those were the last words that Keith had expected to hear that day. “A what.”

“You know push-up bras?”

“Please explain to me where this is heading.”

“Are you telling me you haven't noticed? The paladin armor totally frames the ass. It cups right under the cheek. Like a little butt shelf. Like ass underwire to more effectively push it up and toge—”

“I changed my mind please stop talking,” Keith said, burying his face in his hands.

“I'm just saying. Next time you're standing behind Shiro, pay attention.”

Keith groaned loudly into his hands.

But was cut short by a voice coming from over the comm. “… eith… La…ce… Can y… uys hear m…?”

“Is that Pidge?” Lance said, shooting upright. “Pidge! Yeah! We can hear you!”

“The storm i… tting our commun… ions. It’s too… trong to fl… n safely.”

“Yeah, we figured that out an hour ago when we crashed,” Keith said.

“Ar… guys in y… lions?”

“No, they spit us out for some reason when we crashed. I think it was the lightning,” Keith said.

“Yeah, we’ve been practically hiding under a rock. The lions are right outside,” Lance added, looking outside the hut for good measure to ensure the lions were in fact still there.

“We’r… ming as fast… we can. Be on t… lookout tho… re were some Gal… ships chasin… as you fell.”

“I doubt any Galra drones could’ve survived the fall in this storm,” Lance said.

“We’ll keep our eyes peeled,” Keith said.

“Ok… ontact you aga… nce the storm lets u…”

“Thanks Pidge.”

Lance sighed as he leaned back down again. “At least we know they’re on their way. Sort of,” he said.

“It’s better than being totally cut off from them, I guess.”

“I wonder if that—” Lance cut himself off suddenly, looking outside. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“It sounded like a… moan or something.” He paused, tilting his head as though that would allow the mics on the suits to pick up the sound outside better. “There it was again!”

“I don’t hear anything,” Keith said, leaning toward the hut’s door-hole. He waited for a few more ticks, and, “… Holy quiznak.” There was definitely someone outside.

“Do you think it’s one of the natives?” Lance asked.

“I’m not entirely sure this planet is inhabited anymore. At least not around here,” Keith said.

Lance scrambled to get on his knees, crawling toward the opening.

“What the hell are you doing?” Keith said.

“I’m gonna see who it is.”

“Are you crazy? What if they’re dangerous? Get back in the hole.”

“They sound hurt, not hostile.”

“Come on, Lance, we already have ourselves to wo—”

“Holy shit,” Lance said, lurching back inside.

“What is it?” Keith said, crawling forward.

“It’s a Galra.”

“What? No way, there’s no way a Galra fighter ship could have survived that drop. I thought those things were all piloted by droids, anyway!”

“Not this one, apparently,” Lance said, but Keith wasn’t paying attention anymore, peering out from the hut to see the the dark purple figure, clearly wounded, dragging their body toward them. They were still far away, but their face turned up right as Keith saw them and it was like a switch flipped in his head and the next thing he knew he was forcing himself to his feet and run-stumbling out into the storm.

“Keith! What the hell!?” Lance yelled, struggling to run after him.

The Galra appeared to be female, Keith noted as he got closer. Her eyes were shut and her face looked like it had been burned. Both of her legs were mangled and her blood ran dark indigo, almost blue.

“Is there anyone here?” she rasped out when Keith got closer. “Someone… please…” Her armor was badly damaged, barely holding together in some places. One of her cybernetic arms’ internal wiring was left totally exposed. Keith stopped right in front of her, dropping to his knees, realizing that he had no idea what he’d intended to do once he got to this point.

“Keith, come on let’s just get back to the…” Lance trailed off as he looked down at the Galran woman, an unreadable look crossing his face. “Well, shit.”

A metal hand reached out and grabbed onto Keith’s forearm. “Is someone there? I… I can’t see,” she said. “My ears are… ringing.”

“Lance, help me carry her back to the hut,” Keith said, putting an arm under the Galran woman’s shoulder. Lance complied without protest and with their combined strength and a lot of adrenaline, they lifted the woman up and started heading toward their shelter. She sobbed as they hauled her up, though Keith couldn’t tell if it was from pain or relief.

Two grueling minutes later the three of them were back inside the relative safety of the hut. It was a bit cramped with the third, larger body of the bleeding Galra added to the mix but Keith wasn’t thinking about comfort at the moment.

“Miss, can you hear me? What’s your name?” Keith asked.

“What are you doing?!” Lance asked him.

“Getting information. Shush,” Keith hissed back.

The Galran woman’s head rolled back and forth for a moment and Keith wasn’t sure if she was in any state to answer questions, but after a moment she managed to reply. “Mekhas.”

“Mekhas, can you tell us what happened?”

She groaned, hands covering her face. “We saw the lions fall… The commander ordered our squadron to…”  Her hands fell to her mouth and she shook her head slowly, letting out another sob.

“Where’s the rest of your squad?”

“They couldn’t have…” She shook her head. “They didn’t have the right coding to…” 

Lance and Keith exchanged a look. Coding…?

“So the rest of your squad is… didn't make it.”

Mekhas shook her head again, hands slowly falling down to her chest. Her breathing was growing shallower by the tick. Keith doubted she would hold out much longer.

“I'm alone now,” she said.

Keith didn't know how to respond, hesitantly placing his hand on her shoulder armor instead. A second later, Lance did the same.

“I’m going to die here, too… aren’t I,” Mekhas said. It wasn’t a question.

Keith’s hand squeezed her shoulder while the other clenched into a fist by his knee. “Yes,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

Mekhas turned her head toward Keith and tried to open her eyes, barely managing more than thin slits. Her hand reached upward, grasping at Keith’s forearm though she was probably aiming higher. “Thank you… for trying.” Her other hand formed a fist over her chest and Keith found himself copying the motion. “Vrepit Sa.”

“Vrepit Sa.”

And that was it.

Her hand fell back to the ground and Keith fell back against the wall, hand going to his forehead. Lance stared at him like he couldn’t believe what he just saw.

“…nce… Keith? Can you… er me?” The comm sounded so out of place that it made Keith jump when he heard it.

“Y-yeah, Shiro, all ears,” Lance said when Keith didn't immediately respond.

“There’s about… e a break in the sto… Pidg… d Hunk are coming dow… et your lions back… line.”

“Copy that.” Lance paused, looking up at Keith. “Come on, let’s wait outside. I think the wind is dying down.”

Keith nodded, picking himself up and crawling outside behind Lance.

 

The storm had died down significantly when Pidge and Hunk came down a few minutes later in one of the castle's smaller ships. Hunk explained what he thought happened to cause the lions to shut down using a lot of fancy words that Keith wasn't in any mental state to try to understand but Pidge translated it to mean that basically some sort of electric pulse probably knocked something out of alignment and it should be a quick enough fix if they were right about what got misaligned.

And sure enough it didn't take long until everything was online again. The Galra fleet had already been defeated so there wouldn’t be any problems flying back . Pidge piloted the smaller ship while Hunk chose to stay with Keith inside Red, “just to make sure everything is working properly,” he insisted

“Keith, man, is everything okay?” Hunk asked once Keith was situated in the cockpit.

Keith tried not to visibly stiffen. “Everything is fine. Why?”

“You and Lance just seem a little off. Did something happen or?”

“Nothing happened. We were just stuck in that heavy gravity for a while. Tired.”

Hunk heaved a heavy sigh. “Look, I get it if you don't want to talk about it, but I can see the Galra blood on your suit. I know it's not just nothing.”

Keith breathed in sharply through his nose, covering his forearm with one hand. “I-I… don't wanna talk about it,” he said.

“Alright, just, whatever it was. You know I'll always lend an ear.”

“Yeah. I know.”

 

The next few days were rough. The encounter with that Galran woman had seriously shaken him up, though he couldn't pinpoint what exactly was bothering him the most. An honestly it was that lack of understanding that was really getting to him. He couldn't focus on anything, and it was starting to impact his training. He couldn't even take the level one gladiator, getting knocked to the ground endlessly by things that would've never tripped him up normally.

After landing on his back for what had to be the twentieth time that night, Keith finally gave up. It was late anyway and Keith felt physically gross on top of being overall disgusted with himself. 

He wasn't sure why his legs ended up carrying him to the lounge instead of his room—where he could almost  _ hear _ his shower calling to him—but there he stood, frozen in the doorway, staring down at Lance, sitting alone in the dark.

Lance turned his head when he heard the door slide open. “Keith,” he said, more in surprise than by way of greeting. “I figured you'd be in the training room all night.”

Keith walked over to the couch and leapt down to sit a couple feet away from Lance, out of courtesy, and leaned back with his arms on the level behind him. “The robot knocked me on my ass one too many times, figured it was time to call it a night.”

Lance wrinkled his nose. “You definitely smell like you got your ass beat.”

“Shut your quiznak.”

Lance laughed, but there wasn't really any feeling behind it. “You've been way off lately,” he said.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Me too.”

Keith quirked an eyebrow.

“I mean, I've been off too.”

“Oh,” Keith said.

“You've probably been too off to notice me being off.”

Keith nodded. “Sorry…”

Lance shook his head. “I know we're upset about the same thing.”

Keith stayed silent, folding his arms in his lap and rubbing his fingers together.

“It's hard when you remember that there's people on both sides of a war.”

Keith looked up at Lance and saw him staring up toward the ceiling, eyebrows drawn together.

“It’s easy when it’s just robots.  Hell, it used to be easy when it was just soldiers. But then that woman… She wasn’t just some mindless Galra minion.”

Keith shook his head. He didn’t want to be thinking about that.

“It was pitiful, Keith. I pitied her. She was suffering, because of—”

“Mekhas and her squad were just following orders,” Keith said, looking down. “For all we know it was a ploy to get us shaken up.”

Lance’s fist pounded on the floor behind him. “Are you even listening to yourself right now? Her eyes were burned shut, Keith. There’s no way she would’ve known who we were.” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “The Galra would never make themselves look weak like that, even if it was to try to get to us. If it was… I wish it was that simple.”

“It’s just war,” Keith said into his lap.

Lance was over him in a second, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look up. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you believe what you’re saying.”

Keith shoved Lance off of him. “It’s what I  _ have _ to believe, Lance!” he said. “How many thousands of Galra do you think we’ve killed? Fuck, we’ve  _ killed _ people, Lance! How many people who were just following orders have died because of us?” Keith’s eyes were wide as he searched Lance’s expression for something, though he didn’t know what. “I  _ have _ to think this way because if I don’t then Zarkon is just going to keep giving orders and people are going to keep dying and planets are going to keep getting destroyed. If killing one-hundred Galra means saving a million lives then… then…” Keith’s head fell into his hands.

Lance shook his head, backing up. “Lives aren’t numbers, Keith.” Slowly he sat back down on the couch, hunched forward with his elbows on his knees. “I just… can’t make myself hate an entire group of people, people that  _ feel _ just like us, just for acting on what they’ve been told to do all their lives.”

Keith closed his eyes. “What other choice do we have?”

Lance didn’t have an answer for him, and the silence hung thick in the air.

“Is everything okay in here? I heard yelling earlier, but…” Suddenly Shiro was at the door and both Keith and Lance looked up as he walked toward them. Shiro’s eyebrows pulled together as he took in their expressions. “What’s going on?”

Keith and Lance exchanged a glance but neither of them knew what to say.

Shiro sat down, swinging his legs over the back of the couch next to Keith. “I’m guessing this is about the other day,” he said. “I was expecting Lance to be complaining about it constantly, but neither of you have so much as mentioned what happened. I thought it might have been a fight, but something tells me it’s a little more than that.”

Keith did not feel ready to be having this conversation with Shiro, the team leader of all people. And yet there he was.

Lance was first to talk. “When we crashed, we saw a Galra soldier,” he started, apparently deciding not to beat around the bush. Shiro took in a deep breath through his nose but he waited for Lance to continue. “She and her squadron had followed us when we got pulled into that storm, but she was the only one that survived the fall. We heard her outside and then Keith ran out to her and we dragged her into our shelter. She told us what had happened before she…”

“A  _ Galra _ soldier?” Shiro said

“She was begging, Shiro,” Keith said, without making eye contact. “She couldn’t even see or walk. It was… We couldn’t just leave her there.”

“Then, before she died, she thanked us,” Lance added, shaking his head. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.”

Shiro looked conflicted. “It’s… hard to imagine,” he said.

“Then I’m sure you can understand why Lance and I haven’t said anything about it,” Keith said with a little more bite than he was intending.

Shiro’s eyes widened and he turned his head away.

Lance bit his lip. “Actually, Shiro, I wanted to ask you something about what she said, but it never seemed like the right time, until now, I guess,” Lance said.

Shiro took a steadying breath. “What was it?”he said.

“Before she died, she said something about ‘coding’. Do you have any idea what that means?”

“What, like a computer?”

Lance shook his head. “No, I mean she said something like her other squad members ‘didn’t have the right coding’ or something, so they wouldn’t have survived the fall. It sounded really weird to me. Like, maybe you wouldn’t remember since I know your memories aren’t entirely clear, but…”

Shiro drew his eyebrows together. “Maybe she was the only Galra in her squad. She could have been leading a group of droids, or—”

“That’s not how it sounded though,” Keith said, chancing a glance up at Shiro’s face. “She talked like they were other real Galra. That’s what I don’t get.”

Shiro rubbed at his forehead, brushing back his bangs and generally looking like he didn’t want to be having this conversation anymore. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember hearing anything like that. I don’t remember many interactions with any  _ living _ Galra at all. Maybe Allura would be able to tell you more.”

“I guess we can try asking her, then,” Lance said, looking at Keith.

“In the morning, though,” Shiro said, straightening himself out and  standing up. “It’s late. You two should be getting more rest.”

“Right.” Keith nodded, standing up behind him and offering a hand to Lance, who, to his surprise, took it.

The walk back to their rooms was, thankfully, quiet. Keith and Lance bid goodnight to Shiro first as he was the closest to the lounge, then continued down the corridors silently. Keith was about to turn down the hall toward his room Lance caught him by the wrist.

“What?” Keith asked, turning.

“I…” Lance paused, eyes wide like he didn’t expect to get that far. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry, for yelling at you earlier. I was just—this whole situation is—”

“I know,” Keith said. “I’m sorry, too.”

“Okay. I mean, it’s okay,” Lance stuttered. He let go of Keith’s wrist suddenly like he didn’t remember he’d been holding it in the first place. “Well, uh, goodnight, then.”

“Goodnight,” Keith said, turning with a wave of his hand and finally heading toward his long-awaited shower.

 

The next day Keith was feeling significantly better. He was in the training room with a level 4 gladiator. It had taken a while to build himself up to that level, but he was doing alright so far. It was a rare day when Keith was able to win against level 4, but it looked like he was landing some good hits. Maybe today was his lucky day.

No sooner than that thought crossed his mind did Keith’s face hit the floor after a spectacular flip, courtesy of that Altean metal monster. He managed to roll out of the way before getting lanced in the chest and  _ speaking of Lance _ .

Keith wasn't aware he had an audience, but he could recognize that obnoxious laugh from anywhere. His head whipped around to see Lance standing at the doorway, snickering like some twelve-year-old that heard a bad word.

“Looking good, Keith!” he called out.

Keith used the sudden  _ disdain  _ that blossomed in his heart to fuel his inner flame. He moved his bayard from his right hand to his left and went on autopilot, letting himself get knocked back a few times as he got a feel for the robot’s fighting style.

And he was really feeling it. He built up a pretty steady rhythm, blocking strikes and knocking the bot back, until one moment the gladiator started changing things up, leg swinging around from the side while its lance came at Keith from above. There was no clear way to avoid getting hit, but Keith wasn’t about to lose, and for a moment the world went blurry as his body moved on its own.

The next thing he knew he was standing over the gladiator, sword pushed through its chest. He blinked a few times before backing up, retracting his bayard. Guess he was having a lucky day after all.

“Whoa, Keith,  _ dude, _ how the hell did you do that!?”

Lance was staring at him with his jaw hanging to the floor. Shiro was behind him now, eyebrows raised with a faint smile on his face.

Keith shrugged. “I dunno. I just did,” he said, lumbering over to them as he rubbed his shoulder, suddenly feeling all of the hits he’d taken now that his adrenaline was wearing off.

“Seriously? One second you’re eating the floor with the training bot about to pound you into the next dimension and the next you just like turn into a completely different person and Ultimate Ninja Warrior it to the ground in two seconds!” Lance said, waving his arms around as he spoke.

“Instinct, I guess,” Keith said, shrugging again.

“Okay, I call bullshit,” Lance said, crossing his arms. “People don't just instinctively  _ know _ how to fight like in the movies. I already learned that the hard way. So spill, how long have you been practicing that move? I bet that’s why you said you got your ass knocked down twenty times yesterday. Who are you trying to impress?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Definitely not you, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Okay, ouch,” Lance said, hand over his heart. Shiro did his best not to laugh, Keith saw by the twitch in his mouth.

“ _ Anyway _ ,” Shiro said, going for the subject change. “It’s good to see you’re feeling better today. That was an impressive move you did there.”

Keith scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Uh, thanks. I wish I could remember what I did, but…”

“The rush can get to you like that sometimes,” Shiro said.

Allura took that moment to poke her head inside the training room. “Are Keith and Lance in—oh, it looks like everyone’s here! Wonderful.” She stepped the rest of the way inside and stopped between Keith and Lance. “Shiro told me you two had a question you wanted to ask. Is now an alright time to talk? He wouldn’t tell me what it was about.”

Lance and Keith exchanged a look, the atmosphere sobering, though Allura didn’t seem to acknowledge the change. “Yeah, now is fine,” Keith said. “Though, on second thought maybe it’s something we should ask Coran about, too.”

Allura nodded. “In that case, let’s head back to the Bridge.”

 

“Hmm, I see. That is quite the interesting exchange,” Allura said. Keith and Lance had stuck to the bare bones of the story this time, in some ways to save time, but they were also unsure of how Allura would react. “‘Coding.’ I’m not sure I’ve ever heard the term before. And you said they weren’t talking about a computer of some kind?”

Keith shook his head. “It sounded like her squadron was all Galra.”

“How odd. I wonder what it could mean.”

Coran stroked his mustache thoughtfully, humming. “Did the Galra have any robotic limbs by chance? Perhaps this ‘coding’ could have something to do with Galran prosthetics.”

“Yeah, she did,” Lance answered. “Both of her arms were robotic, from what I could tell. So I guess that could explain what she meant. I can’t think of anything better.”

Keith wasn’t entirely convinced, but with what information they had he couldn’t think of a better explanation, either. “I guess we can’t know for sure,” he said.

“Well if it’s something that hasn’t come up until now, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” Coran assured.

Keith nodded, more of an acknowledgement than an agreement. “Thanks for your help.” Though it wasn’t really all that helpful.

“If we hear anything else about it, we’ll be sure to let you know,” Allura said.

Keith thanked them again before heading back toward his room, feeling like he needed a good three-hour nap.

 

“He rises!” Lance announced as Keith walked into the dining room, rubbing his eyes.

“Shut up, Lance,” Keith said.

“Sometimes Keith needs his beauty rest too, Lance, give him a break,” Hunk said, not much in Keith's defense.

“Well he's gonna need a lot more than one nap if that's the case,” Lance said.

“I should have slept through dinner,” Keith mumbled. He sat down stiffly next to Pidge, since they hadn't said anything to insult him yet, and served himself. He was the last one in.

“Alright, well now that the team is all here, I think it's time to discuss our next mission,” Shiro said, catching Keith mid-bite. “There's a planetary system not too far from here where Pidge has noticed some irregular Galra activity, almost always smaller ships that come and go within the day. None of the planets seem to be under direct Galra control, regardless being in a very hostile part of the galaxy, though we've picked up trace signs of life on our scanners so we assume the planets are inhabited, if sparsely. We suspect it could be some type of disposal grounds, though for what we’re not really sure. It’s also possible that it’s prisoner colony.”

Something about that didn’t sit right with Keith. “Smells fishy to me,” he said.

“And that’s exactly why we’re going,” Shiro said. “The abnormal activity around there might give us the chance to learn something new about the Galra.”

“We’ll start with a scan for signs of life on each planet and moon in the system and go from there. It’s an information gathering mission, so we suspect it shouldn’t be too dangerous,” Allura said.

“I don’t know. I think I’m with Keith on this one. Something definitely doesn’t feel right about this,” Hunk said.

“All the more reason to go,” Lance said, shrugging. Hunk frowned at him. “What? We’ll keep our guard up. It’ll be fine.”

Keith crossed his arms, sitting back in his seat. “I never said I didn’t want to go. I just don’t trust that there won’t be a bunch of armed Galra waiting for us there.”

“That’s the spirit, Keith!” Coran said. “We’ve already set course for the Vynyxar system. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves with any wormhole jumps, so it’s just old-fashioned space travel for now.”

“How long will that take?” Lance asked.

“At the rate we’re going, we should be there sometime tomorrow,” Pidge answered. “We should be able to start gathering intel with our closer range scanners by tomorrow night, then we can start thinking about where to go from there.”

Shiro nodded. “So there’s the plan. Any objections?” No one spoke. “Great. Now, let’s eat.”

 

“What exactly do you mean by ‘nothing’?”

Everyone was standing around the Bridge to hear what the scanners picked up overnight after arriving at the Vynyxar systhem. So far it wasn’t going very well. Pidge rubbed their eyes under their glasses at Lance’s question. “I mean there’s  _ nothing _ . No ships, no Galra, no droids, the only thing moving on the surface of any of these planets are clouds. There’s not even any signs that the Galra have ever been here, even though we picked up a ship stopping here about a week ago,” they said.

“But didn’t you say you picked up signs of life on the long-range scanners?” Lance asked.

“We  _ did _ , but there’s nothing now. It doesn’t seem like our signals are getting jammed someway, either. They’re just gone.”

“Could have been a bad signal from the long range scanners,” Keith said.

“The long range scanners that just got a tune-up last month? It’s possible, but I don’t like that answer,” Hunk said, crossing his arms and tapping his chin.

“Maybe we need a closer look. It could have something to do with the atmosphere blocking th—” Shiro was cut off by a loud beep coming from one of the large screens.

“What is that?” Lance said. “A… distress signal?”

Pidge immediately buried themself in a computer screen. “It isn’t coming through any of the regular channels, but that’s definitely a distress signal. It’s coming from a moon on the sixth planet in the system.”

“Okay I definitely don’t have a good feeling about this,” Hunk said.

“Since when have you had a good feeling about any of our missions,” Lance jabbed.

“Since never and I’m not about to start now.”

“So what do we do?” Keith said. Everyone turned to Shiro.

“I think…” he started. “I think it would be best not to involve Voltron or the Castle-ship directly. We want to stay low until we gather more information. We’ll have a team take one of the smaller ships to go see who or whatever is down there. Keith, I want you piloting. You also have the best close combat skills. Lance, you can provide long range cover in case something goes wrong. Hunk, you can help with any repairs if it’s a legitimate distress signal.”

“What about our armor? Won’t that be… recognizable?” Keith asked.

“Allura?” Shiro said.

Allura had a hand on her chin in thought. “While I don’t believe we have anything outside of the Altean style, we should have something a little less iconic than the paladin armor, so it won’t give you away as easily. It won’t have as many of the features as the paladin armor does, but it should get the job done.”

Shiro nodded. “That’ll be perfect,” he said. “I’ll have Pidge monitor from the Bridge and I’ll be in the Black Lion, ready to launch if anything goes wrong.”

Keith nodded. “Got it.”

Shiro gave him a pat on the back. “Good luck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Link to illustration: https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/159792471233/it-begins-just-started-posting-my-fic-heads-i
> 
> I update every Thursday! :D
> 
> Yell at me on tumblr @sexythewalkingcatfish


	2. Azul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance, Keith, and Hunk go to the source of the distress signal. It isn't what they were expecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter. Sorry, I guess? ^^;; Couldn't find a better place to cut it.
> 
> So a couple things. First of all, I have a character with a pretty heavy (Scottish-inspired) accent introduced here, so just in case anyone has a hard time reading it, I included a link to a transcript I wrote up on my tumblr for the longest section of it. Also he cusses a lot.
> 
> Big thanks again to Ikira for being my beta~

“This armor has more coverage than our actual paladin armor. What’s up with that?” Lance said, observing himself while sitting next to Keith. “Looks more ‘knightly’ than the paladin armor, too.”

“Yeah, but the crotch guard gets in the way while you’re sitting. Makes you have to spread your legs out,” Hunk added.

“Hey at least it  _ has _ a crotch guard. That’s one thing that the paladin armor, I feel, is extremely lacking.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “There’s crotch padding in the suit,” he said.

“But is there enough, Keith. But is there _ enough _ .”

The smaller ship couldn’t travel nearly as quickly as their lions or the castle, so the ride toward the coordinates of the distress signal was taking a few minutes, which was just long enough for Lance to start babbling about the armor they’d been given in lieu of their paladin armor. Their attempts to hail whatever had sent out the distress signal were to no avail, so they pressed forward, still having no idea what they were going to find.

“We’re getting close,” Hunk said, looking at his handheld screen. Unlike the paladin armor, the armor Allura had given them didn’t have any internal displays. “It’s going to be on the far side of this moon, Mora.”

“Of course it’s coming from the  _ dark  _ side of the moon,” Keith muttered, trying to ignore the uneasiness sitting like a rock in his stomach as he flew around to the other side of the moon.

“Hey, I think I see something. Is that it?” Lance said, pointing. There was some sort of blinking light coming from the surface.

“Looks like that’s where the signal came from,” Hunk confirmed.

“Preparing for landing. Hunk, have you tried hailing them again?” Keith said.

“Yeah, but still no response. I’ve tried on a bunch of different channels, too. I don’t know if their communications are offline or if they just don’t want to talk to us.”

Keith turned on the outside lights as he came in for landing and his breath caught in his throat. “Fuck…” The ship was none other than a Galra droid fighter. Keith let the ship hover in the air in a moment of hesitation, but ultimately decided it was too late to turn around and landed it.

Nobody moved for at least a minute. The ship was obviously in no condition to fly and didn’t appear to be fixable. There was nobody outside it, and the blinking light had stopped since they started their approach.

“Is everything okay down there?” Pidge asked over the comm. “I see you landed but you’ve gone quiet.”

“We’re fine, Pidge. The ship that sent the distress signal is Galran. We’re about to go check it out,” Keith said. He turned his attention to Lance. “You stay back and provide cover in case things start to get messy. I’ll leave the local channel open so you can hear everything. I’ll yell for you if things get bad.”

Lance looked like he wanted to object, but he nodded anyway. “Be careful, Keith.”

Hunk looked even more reluctant, but he followed Keith outside in spite of it.

The suits were insulated, but Keith could tell it was cold outside. His helmet stayed closed, despite the fact that Mora supposedly had breathable air, and there was a stiffness about everything that made it seem like an inhospitable place. He and Hunk approached the ship cautiously. Both wings were damaged and the door to the inside appeared broken, crumpled at the corners. Keith announced himself as he approached, though he had a hard time believing there was anyone alive if they’d been here longer than a day.

Keith tried the manual door unlock, but it was jammed.

“Dammit. Hunk?” Keith said.

“I got it,” he said, materializing his bayard. “Stand clear of the door!” he yelled, then waited a few tics before blasting the lock. With a little pulling, they got the door open and stepped inside. The ship was small so it didn’t take long before they saw the one that had sent out the signal.

He was Galran, breathing heavily through his nose from where he sat, wrists bound and mouth muzzled shut, over the remains of a Galra droid. His eyes glowed dully as he glared at Keith and Hunk upon entering.

“Ho-ly hell,” Keith whispered. “Lance, I’m gonna try to send you video feed of this,” Keith said, touching the control pad on the side of his helmet.

“Fuck,” Lance said over the comm. “What the hell is this?”

“We’re about to find out,” Keith said. He walked over to the Galran man, who was still glaring at Keith though he couldn’t find it in himself to care. The muzzle appeared to have some sort of fingerprint-activated disengage. Keith tried it himself but it didn’t seem to do anything.

The Galran man grunted to catch Keith’s attention and gestured toward the floor with his head where Keith found a dismembered robot arm. He tried again with that and the lock disengaged. He threw the muzzle to the floor and the man took in a deep breath through his mouth before spitting on the ground in the general direction of the muzzle.

([transcript](http://sexythewalkingcatfish.tumblr.com/post/160057609899/chapter-2-solom-transcript-more-never))

“Never tho’ seein’ a lady in Altean getup would be such a sight fa sore eyes, aye,” he said, voice raspy, with a vaguely Scottish accent. Lance snickered over the comm and Keith rolled his eyes at him. “If Zarkon could see me now.”

“Who are you? How did you get here? Why did you send that distress signal?” Keith asked.

“Set’l down there, laddie, one question a’ a time,” the man said. “Th’ name’s Solom, A’m from engineering under Axar’s command unit, er a’ least I was ‘fore I got exiled. F’got about me tech hand when they tied me up here an’ I was able ta take out tha’ droid bafore e lef’ me ou’ here fa dead. I sent the distress signal becos, well,” he paused, looking down at himself pointedly. “A’m in distress.”

Keith frowned. “Exiled? Why?”

“Wha’s wi’ me doin’ all a the talking, aye?” Solom said. “Tell ye what, if you help me out, A’ll tell ye wha’ever ye wanta know about me, Zarkon, the lot of ‘em. Damn pricks exile me from the empire, they can burn in hell for all I care.” Solom sniffed, sneering.

“And what is it you want?” Keith asked.

“Take me ta th’ colony on Azul.”

“Azul, that’s the fourth planet of the Vynyxar system,” Hunk said. “Our scanners didn’t pick up any signs of life there. It’s a wasteland. Are you sure that’s the place you’re trying to get to?”

“I wouldn’a risked me life sendin’ ut a distress signal fa some myth,” Solom scoffed.

Hunk and Keith exchanged a glance. “What kind of colony is on Azul?” Keith asked

Solom shifted his weight back in his seat. “Get me onta tha’ fancy ship o’ yers an I just might tell ye.” 

Keith looked him up and down. He was bound by the wrists and the ankles, barefoot, but he’d still been able to take out a Galra drone on his own and send out a distress signal, presumably without the Galra finding out; obviously he was intelligent and resourceful.

“A’m flattered tha’ ya feel tha need ta size me up, laddie, bu’ need I remind ye tha’ they’s only one a me an two a you, prolly a third sittin’ back they on ya ship,” Solom rasped.  “A’m th’ one tha’ should be worried here.”

“I don’t know if I really trust this guy,” Lance said over the comm, “but I think you should let him on the ship. We can’t pass up an opportunity like this.”

“Hunk, help me lift this guy,” Keith said. “Bring the droid hand, too.”

Keith wasn’t about to let a Galra onto their ship without bonds, so together he and Hunk lifted Solom under the arms and helped him back to their ship. 

“Yer good fellas, ya knoe. Wouln’t last a day wi’ th’ Galra.”

They sat him down in the seat next to Lance, who was trying to keep a straight face, though Keith caught the hint of curiosity in his eyes.

“Tell us about the colony on Azul, then we’ll leave the moon,” Keith said.

Solom looked reluctant, but he seemed to see that Keith wasn’t giving him much choice. He sighed heavily. “Aye, fin.  Th’ Vynyx is  wha’ we like ta call th’ Devil’s trash yard. S’wher divergents are lef’ ta rot, once th’ empire finds them ut. Bu’ they’s rumors of an underground colony on Azul, been avoidin’ detection fa ages. Din’t believe it meself ‘til I met a lass, pilot from Brute’s command unit, said she’d lived they haself.”

“Do you know how to locate this colony?”

“All I knoes is t’s located near th’ planet’s south pole.”

“Then that’s where we’ll head,” Keith said.

 

They filled the team in on what they were doing as they headed out, though they kept the descriptions vague for the time being, and around an hour later they started coming up on Azul. Keith had Hunk identify which end was the south pole and started going in for landing. He could feel Solom’s eyes on the back of his head for the whole trip, though he’d been completely silent. Keith tried not to let it bother him.

Azul was a very gray planet, with flecks of green here and there though not from anything living. Hunk said that they were probably acid pools and were best left alone.  The air was supposedly breathable, however, and there were water reserves underground, meaning it had all the right ingredients for inhabitance, just no apparent inhabitants.

Keith slowed down as he entered the outer atmosphere, making sure the comm was silent on their end, and turned his attention behind him.

“Another question before we start looking for this supposed colony,” he said. “I’d like you to answer as thoroughly as possible.”

“Ye sure knoe ha ta treat a guest,” Solom said.

Keith ignored his comment. “Tell me everything about how you ended up on Mura. From capture to us finding you today.”

“Sounds more lika demand than a question,”Solom said.

“We’ll pretend I phrased it nicer.”

Solom leaned back in his chair a bit, looking up. “I was mindin’ me on business one day, when two big burly knobs come in, lif me ou’ o’ me damn chair an say A’d exhibited some codin’ error 5537, fooken tazed me right there an’ knocked me ta fuck ut. When I woke up I was on tha’ ship, all cuffed an’ chained ta hell an’ back an’ tha’s when I knew I was bein’ exiled. We was already in th’ Vynyx. I tho’ maybe fer a quick secon tha’ th’ drone was takin’ me ta Azul, bu’ o’ course e wan’t, an I started ta get nervous when I saw Mora; s’th’ coldest moon in th’ system wi’ breathable air. Empire saves it fa th’ ones they definitely dun’ want comin’ back.

“Tha’ was when I saw they f’got ‘bout me tech hand. A’d had it replaced so I could work on repairs faster, used it ta burn through me chains an’ right as we’s abut ta land I crushed tha’ droid fooka’s neck in me hand an’ crashed th’ ship. Ripped th’ thing apart an’ used i’s access code ta looka th’ logs. Knew I had ta send ut a distress signal if I’s gonna get ta Azul, bu’ I sure’s hell din’t want th’ empire seein’ me. I saw an openin’ a week after me crash so I sat an’ waited, used th’ Galra’s least frequen’ed channel ta send it ut, an then yer lot came along. Na here we are.”

Keith’s grip on the ship’s controls tightened. “Wait, back up a tick. What did they mean by ‘coding error’?” he said.

Solom smirked. “Take me ta th’ surface an’ I just might tell ye,” he said. “Take me ta th’ colony an’ A’ll bet they’ll be some’on who can tell ye a hellova lot better than I can.”

Keith’s mouth pressed into a hard line as he continued his descent. “Hunk, start scans for any signs of life. Lance, keep your eyes peeled. I wanna find this thing before nightfall.”

 

It was nearing sunset on Azul before Lance spotted it. It was an inconspicuous hole, much like the twenty other inconspicuous holes before it, but when they approached this one, the sensors suddenly stopped reading correctly, spitting out numbers consistent with the range that they expected, but when put together Hunk said that they didn’t make any sense. That was enough for Keith to land the ship. If the colony had gone this long without detection, they must have had some sort of specialized jamming tech working for them.

Keith sent Pidge a short update before he landed the ship, telling them to expect him to go dark for a while. Once they were on the ground, Keith turned to Solom, gesturing for Hunk to hand over the droid hand.

“Can you stand?” Keith asked, going for the ankle cuffs first.

“What, no’ gonna quiz me this time?”

“You’ve already told me you’re not the best person to answer my question,” Keith said, unlocking his wrists then offering his hand.

Solom brushed it aside, standing on his own, a little wobbly. “We Galra can last weeks on empty, longer than yer kind by th’ looks ovit, whuteva th’ hell ye are.”

Keith frowned and stopped himself from retorting, but only barely. Instead he turned toward the door and left the ship, gesturing for the others to follow.

The atmosphere outside was dry and smelled vaguely like sulfur, but the air was breathable and it wasn’t so cold that Keith thought he would freeze. He walked into the mouth of the cave half-expecting some kind of barrier to stop him from entering, but there was none.

The tunnels were long and dark, growing more humid the deeper they went, though certainly not warmer. “If this was some elaborate scheme to get us into a hole in the middle of space where no one would ever find us and then kill us all, I’d say you did a pretty good job,” Lance said.

“Aye, if A’d wan’ed tha’ A’da jus’ left ye on Mora,” Solom said.

No sooner than he finished his sentence did they come to a fork in the tunnels, three different branches, equally dark and threatening.

“Great. Now what do we do?” Hunk said.

“Guess we have to pick one,” Keith said.

“This could take literally forever,” Lance said. “What if we get lost?”

“I think it’s too late to be worrying about that,” Keith said. He crossed his arms, staring at each of the tunnels one by one.

“I don’t suppose you know which one it is?” Hunk asked, presumably to Solom.

“Tha’d be a nay.”

“It’s this one,” Keith said, pointing at the tunnel on the far right.

“How would  _ you _ know?” Lance said indignantly.

Keith shrugged, walking toward the tunnel he’d pointed to. “Gotta start somewhere,” Keith said.

“If we get lost in tunnel hell I’m blaming you.”

“We won’t get lost and if I’m wrong you can choose the next one.”

Hunk’s stomach chose that moment to make itself heard. Very strongly. 

“Tha fook was that?”

“Whenever we find this place, colony, whatever, I hope they have some extra food,” Hunk said, hands on his stomach.

“Assuming we ever make it there,” Lance grumbled.

“Shut the fuck up I think I heard something,” Keith said, holding up his hand and stopping. The tunnels had started to grow wider and… brighter? Keith strained his ears. He could have sworn he heard voices.

“They’s someone up ahead,” Solom said, probably relying on his better hearing. “They’re comin’ this way.”

“What do we do?”

“Just stay put.”

“I can’t believe Keith was right.”

“ _ Stop _ . Who goes there?” A female-sounding voice boomed, though Keith couldn’t yet see who it was coming from.

“We come in peace,” Solom called back, voice clearer than the accent Keith had grown accustomed to. “We seek the safe-haven of Azul.”

The woman who rounded the corner was tall, even for a Galra. She did not wear the armor of the Galra empire, though Keith couldn’t see well enough to describe what she had on. She appeared to be furless, two horns at her temples and long, pointed ears. Her eyes glowed brightly in the low light.

She almost laughed when she looked at the group in front of her. “Now there’s a sight you don’t see every day.” she mused. “I was going to ask if you were affiliated with the empire, but travelling with a lot like that , there’s no need.”

“I can’t  _ believe _ Keith was right,” Lance said again.

“I’m impressed that you were able to find us,” the woman said. She narrowed her eyes. “Do tell how you managed.”

“Th’ one of ye tha’ made it back inta th’ empire abut a decade ago, I met ‘er. S’a good thing, tae. She musta seen somethin’ in me, made ‘er tell me abut this place. A’da died fer sure otherwise,” Solom said, back to his regular cadence.

“Of course it was her,” the woman mumbled. “Right. Come along this way. I’ll have the others take a look at you, then we’ll figure out what to do.”

 

Keith hoped they’d be able to get an escort out with all of the winding tunnels they had to go through to get to the wide opening where the colony presumably centered around. The walls were lined with glowing crystals that tinted the air a vague-ish green color, surprisingly bright as far as glowing rocks went.

The woman, still nameless, went to fetch some people who Keith assumed were the colony’s leaders. There were two women and one man, all appearing to be somewhat middle-aged—not that Keith was one to judge Galran age accurately. They were then led into a smaller room where chairs and benches were arranged in a circle around an empty fire pit.

“So, Solom, was it?” the older of the two women, Khala, as she’d introduced herself, started. “Do tell how you came to us today.”

Solom went into the same story that he’d told them earlier, albeit a shorter version, all the while training his eyes on the ground in front of him. Keith wondered if it was because of some sort of respect thing or if it was another emotion, but he didn’t get the chance to dwell on it before Khala was turning to him.

“So then what's your story? What were you doing in the Vynyx?” she asked. Keith stiffened, eye’s wide.

“Just passing through when our ship picked up the distress signal,” Lance lied smoothly when he sensed Keith freeze up. “Weren't sure who we'd find out here, considering, but figured we might be able to help out.”

Khala’s eyes narrowed while her mouth smiled, not buying it for a minute. “Does your kind not believe in honesty?” she asked. “Nobody just passes through the Vynyx. The penalty for interfering with a Galra exile is much too severe for that. I'll let you try again one more time, though. I sense your real reasoning is a bit more complicated.”

Keith grit his teeth, figuring it best to just bite the bullet. “We're gathering information,” he said. “We're not from this galaxy, so when we noticed the irregular Galra activity we thought we might gain some insight by getting a closer look.” He exchanged a glance with Lance and Hunk, hoping they wouldn't be upset about him telling the truth, though it wasn't like he was about to blatantly expose who they were. “So it's true we didn't know who we would find when we saw the distress signal, and after meeting Solom we just decided to go with it. The empire already has plenty of reasons to want us dead, or worse, so no loss.” Not that they'd gone into the whole situation knowing about these additional penalties they were apparently stacking up.

Khala nodded thoughtfully. “So it would seem you've come to the right place. An enemy of the empire is a friend of ours, here. Most of us hold bitterness about being abandoned by our own, albeit some are still plagued by loyal ties. Though, speaking of, I guess I have to extend my thanks to the woman who managed to return so that this man could be saved from a meaningless death sentence.” She eyed Solom cautiously. “Trusting that she did not carelessly throw around knowledge about this place.”

Solom held a fist over his chest. “Had me swear on me life no’ ta tell a soul. An’ A'm still livin’.”

Khala blinked slowly at him and he lowered his fist. At least on the surface, she seemed satisfied with his answer. “So,” she said, turning to Keith, “I do believe you said that you came here for information gathering. And I'm willing to bet we have some answers you're looking for.” Keith nodded in response. “First I have a request of my own, however. We cannot risk the empire learning of us, or the consequences will be dire, so I must have you promise not to tell a soul of our colony, and also promise never to return to this place once you've gone.”

Keith nodded. “Of course. We promise.”

Khala smiled emptily. “Unfortunately, spoken word alone does not a promise make.” She gestured to the woman sitting beside her. “Sirth is the sole mage of the colony, specializing in promise arts. She will make for you a potion that will assure that you keep your word.” Keith was sure she could see the discomfort on his face as she continued. “I'm afraid that we cannot let you leave if you do not cooperate. If you do, however, I will personally see to it that any question you have for us is completely answered.”

Keith looked at Lance and Hunk, but they all knew that they had no other choice but to agree.

 

It was bitter, and oddly metallic in flavor, but Sirth had assured them that the potion was safe to consume, not that she had any way of knowing about human biology. They drank half, repeated their vow then downed the second half, grimacing all the while. Lance made a face after he was done, sputtering something about hoping he would never have to do that again, meanwhile Hunk stayed quiet, trying as best he could to hide his distaste.

“Thank you for fulfilling your half of the bargain,” Khala said, taking back the shallow bowls that the potion had come back in.

“You guys seem a lot more… a lot nicer than the other Galra we’ve met,” Hunk said after handing back his bowl. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Galra say thank you before.”

Mekhas’s face flashed in Keith’s mind and he shook his head to clear it.

Khala grinned, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Morality is perhaps the least desirable quality a Galra can have. I imagine that is what has brought most of us here to Azul.”

“Oh,” Hunk mouthed.

“Though, I suppose to the empire, it’s just coding error 1004,” Khala continued, making Keith’s eyes snap up to meet hers. She smiled. “This interests you, I gather. I assume your kind knows little of Galran genetics.” Keith nodded his head. “Very few outside of the Galra do. Our little secret. It’s one of the things that has made us such good conquerors.”

“Tell me,” Keith said, more eagerly than he’d intended.

Khala appeared amused by his enthusiasm. “Have you ever had any sort of traumatic experience, something you wish you could have avoided, had you just known what to do?” The question was rhetorical, but Keith found himself nodding along anyway. “Well, for the Galra, this is almost a non-issue. You see, Galra have an unique ability to take particularly emotional or stressful memories and, in a sense, encode them into our genetics. That's not to say memories are passed through the generations; that would be inconvenient, a burden really. Rather, these genes present themselves as 'instincts’ in future generations, so to speak. It enabled the survival of the species early on and their domination now.”

Lance looked like his brain had been shot out of his head with a laser. “Okay, whoa, wait, back up. So you’re saying that Galra can like…  _ make _ instincts?”

“If the right conditions are met, yes. That’s putting it in basic terms.”

Lance rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, but, so, when you say ‘stressful memories’ like what exactly does that mean? Like if someone is chasing you… or something?”

“It could be that. It could be something as simple as aversion to a certain color because an ancestor ate something blue and grew ill, or it could be as specific as, say, knowing how to fight off an enemy that's simultaneously attacking from the side and from above.”

Lance's jaw hung open and his eyebrows drew together. “That sounds… so crazy,” he said.

Khala chuckled. “It has made the Galra incredibly efficient at organization. Most Galra have a certain set of shared instincts that make it easy to predict what actions members of their own kind will take. But there are others that may make certain Galra naturally more adept at fighting, or leading.”

“Or flying,” Keith finished, starting down at his palms on his lap, putting the pieces together in his head. His hand flew to Lance’s shoulder. “Mekhas said that the other members of her squad didn't have the right coding to have survived the fall, so that must mean—”

“What did you say?” Sirth hissed, cutting off his train of thought.

“What?”

“That name,” she, said.

“ Mekhas..?”

All of the air left the room as every Galra held their breath.

Hunk looked around the room. “Keith? Who are you talking about? Wait…” he trailed off as the realization dawned on his face. “On the storm planet.”

“Where did you meet her? When? What did she say?” Sirth demanded.

“I… it was just a few days ago,” Keith said. “We were fighting with a Galra fleet, I can’t remember whose command they were under but… we crashed on a nearby planet and her squad was ordered to follow us. She was the only one to survive to the surface, but she didn’t last for long.”

Khala’s gaze looked very far away. Sirth looked like she wanted to say something, but she stayed quiet. 

Solom sniffed. “Brute musta figured ‘er out A’d say. Din’t wanna risk ‘er escapin’ exile again an’ jus’ sent ‘er on a suicide mission,” he said.  “Defects like her a’ tae dangerous fer th’ empire.” He sneered, crossing his arms

“Are all, er, ‘defects’, is it? Are they all sent to exile?” Hunk asked.

“Fer th’ most part.” Solom nodded. “Divergents, they usually call ‘em.”

Lance drew his eyebrows together. “This may sound bad, but why doesn’t the empire just kill all of the divergents? Why go through the trouble of exile?”

“That would be much too merciful,” the man—Crochus, if Keith remembered correctly—said. “To the Galra, being a part of the empire is a part of your identity. To be exiled, stripped of the most defining part of yourself, then cast aside to waste away, spending your last days knowing that you’re worth nothing. It’s the purest form of torture that the empire could ever come up with. Most of us here on Azul were able to let go of our ties, come to peace with it. We’re different from the empire in that way.”

“But not Mekhas,” Khala said. “She never could let go of her loyalty, and ultimately that’s what led to her escape from Azul. I always feared that she would eventually be sent back to us. Divergence is difficult to hide, even for the most talented individuals. It never even crossed my mind that she would…” She shook her head. “It is indeed unfortunate news.”

Keith felt like he should apologize, but he didn’t know how.

Sirth stood up suddenly. “It grows late,” she said. “If your curiosity is yet unsatisfied, we invite you to stay the night to continue this discussion in the morning.”

Keith nodded but the others looked unsure. “What?” he said.

“I don’t know. It’s been a while. We might need to  get back to—”

Keith cut Hunk off. “And miss out on an opportunity like this? We’re not leaving.”

Hunk gave Keith a look. “The others will worry.”

“Are there others that know of your whereabouts?” Khala said skeptically.

“No,” Lance jumped in quickly. “I mean, yes, they know we’re in the Vynyx but they don’t know anything about any of this stuff. Hunk is just worried they might be thinking we’re in trouble or something since we can’t contact them from down here.”

“You are free to leave if you fear your comrades’ concern. I would not want to be the source of their worry,” Sirth said. “But once you leave here I’m afraid you may not return.”

Keith frowned. “Fine. Lance, Hunk, you two can leave, get out of the jamming signal and tell the others that the mission is taking longer than anticipated. I’ll stay here to keep gathering information,” he said.

“No way am I letting you stay behind on your own,” Lance said, grabbing Keith’s arm. “If you stay, I stay.”

“And just leave Hunk alone in the ship? I’ll be fine, Lance. Just go back, tell the others we’re okay—”

“Actually, Keith, I’ve gotta agree with Lance on this one,” Hunk said, to Keith’s surprise. “It’s not like I’ll be totally alone. I’ll have the comm to keep me company. Plus we have those local channels in our helmets. I’ll be able to contact you if anything comes up. The signal should reach that far. It’ll be fine.”

“So it’s decided, then,” Lance said, not giving Keith the chance to argue.

“I’ll have an escort take you out of the tunnels,” Khala said to Hunk, then turned to Keith and Lance. “And I will escort you to the guest chambers. Please, follow me.”

 

Keith was a little impressed they had any guest chambers at all, since he assumed Azul didn’t get too many visitors. Khala admitted they had never been used before but some of the other higher-ups insisted on having them anyway.

It was a small room, two cots pushed up against each side with a short table between them and not much else in terms of provisions, but it would do. Keith threw his helmet on the table next to Lance’s then claimed the cot on the right for himself by flopping down onto it face-first.

Lance, in an unusual show of reservation, sat down more slowly on the other cot, lacing his fingers together and leaning forward.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this right now,” he said after a pause.

“What do you mean? We do crazy stuff all the time,” Keith said, rolling over so he was facing Lance.

“That other stuff doesn’t even compare to this, though. We're literally sleeping among Galra now. You know, the species that we've been entirely convinced are all ruthless monsters trying to kill us ever since stepping foot in the lions? The ones we were convinced couldn't feel anything other than despise for us and everything in the universe that opposed them, but now suddenly we have to deal with fucking Not All Galra 2k48 because oh shit they have feelings too?” Lance said, throwing his hands up.

“I guess you have a point,” Keith said.

“Yeah, I guess I do.” Lance laced his fingers back together, leaning his chin against his hands. He sighed. “So what do you think about all this? About… coding, or whatever.”

“To be honest, I'm still trying to process all of it. Most of this stuff just sounds crazy to me, but I can't think of a good reason they would be lying to us. Seems a little too elaborate to be some plan to trick us.”

Lance nodded his head then shook it. “I just can't stop thinking about Mekhas,” he says. “That stuff about her being divergent but escaping exile to go back to the empire, only to be sent to her death. That's… It's messed up. But I guess in a weird way it makes sense.”

Keith looked down at the floor in opposite corner of the room. “I just don't understand why she'd want to go back.”

“Don't you ever miss Earth?” Lance asked.

Keith shook his head. “That's different. We weren't just kicked off of Earth. They didn't send us out into space to die.”

Lance pursed his lips. “Okay, what about this. Did you ever miss the Garrison, after you got kicked out?”

Keith wasn't anticipating that question. “That's… What do you mean?”

“You sorta made a home for yourself there, right? Maybe you tended to stick more to yourself, and maybe you felt like you didn't totally fit in, but it was still the place where you lived. It still defined a part of you, right? Did you never wish you could go back?”

Keith met Lance's gaze with wide eyes. “I…”

“I think that's probably how Mekhas felt. She lost her home when she was exiled, a part of herself, ya know. Maybe it was just… in her coding to need to go back like she did.”

Keith looked up at the wall. “But they didn’t want her,” he murmured.

“That doesn’t mean she could just let them go.”

Keith dropped his gaze again and didn't answer immediately. He wasn’t used to having conversations that were so personal, and definitely not with Lance.

“I did miss it,” he admitted. “It was really hard, especially at first. I was used to being on my own before but, I mean, after I left the Garrison it was… I didn't realize just how lonely I would be. I felt so lost.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “I felt like I wasn’t supposed to feel attached to it anymore, like I was supposed to just move on like I always did but…” He shook his head. “It wasn’t the same.”

Lance gave Keith a sympathetic look, about to respond when there was a crackling sound from their helmets that made them both jump. It must have been Hunk trying to contact them. Keith and Lance picked up their helmets and held them up so they could hear.

“Lance, Keith, you copy?” Hunk said, voice filtered through static.

“We hear you,” Lance said. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. I contacted the others and told them the gist of what’s going on. Shiro used his dad voice on me so that was a little weird but we’re all on the same page now. I made it back to the ship alright and Allura said they’d go on shifts to make sure there’s someone awake in case I need to contact them, and all that. How are you guys holding up?”

“We’re fine. About to hit they hay since who knows how long Galra sleep and when they’ll expect us to be awake,” Lance said. “We’ll let you know if something comes up. If you need us just yell really loud.”

“Roger that,” Hunk said. “And good night!”

“Night,” Lance said, putting his helmet back on the table, Keith following suit. “You alright?” 

Keith snapped his gaze down to Lance. “I’m fine,” he said. 

“You were making a face.”

“I’m just tired.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, just…” Keith rolled over to face the wall. “Let’s just go to sleep.”

“Alright… Good night, Keith.”

“Night.”

 

Keith had never watched anyone sleep. He’d seen other people sleeping before, obviously, but he’d never just sat there and watched someone while they slept. So when he found himself awake, staring at Lance’s resting face in the room’s soft light, he told himself it was out of curiosity and nothing else.

He had no idea what time it was; the crystals on the walls had gone from the cool green color from the night before into something more yellow, so maybe it was like the colony’s morning cycle. Either way he knew he woke up too wired to go back to sleep. But he didn’t want to get up and make any noise that might wake up Lance. It was out of the kindness of his heart, really, that he was just laying there instead, entertaining himself with the way Lance’s shoulders rose and fell with each slow breath, or the way his face didn’t look nearly as punchable when he was asleep, or the way he breathed through his mouth but didn’t really snore. Or the way his eyes blinked open slowly when he woke up and caught Keith red-handed.

He smirked and immediately Keith wanted to knock him back out. “Were you watching me sleep?”

Keith frowned. “I was just thinking about how much less annoying you are when you’re not talking.”

Lance’s smirk widened. “You didn’t deny it.”

Keith turned away, feeling his face heat up. “Shut the fuck up, I wasn’t watching you sleep.”

“Yeah and I’m the reigning world soap carving champion.”

“That’s not a real thing.”

“It is and until you stop lying you must address me as Lance Gonzales, Master of the Soap Arts.”

“I’m not gonna call you that.”

“So you admit that you were staring.”

“I wasn’t staring.”

“Which is it, Jeong?”

“That isn’t my last name, and I’m done talking to you.”

“You can’t lie to yourself forever.”

Keith stood up and left the room.

Lance was pretty quick to follow him out, but he seemed to be done teasing Keith for the time being. They made their way to the common area in relative silence. There were several Galra up and about already. They gave Keith and Lance weird looks as they passed by, keeping their distance, though they didn’t appear openly hostile, at least.

There appeared to be a wide variety of ages, from the slow-moving older Galra to vibrant young children, probably children of the colonists, or at least that was what Keith hoped. It felt just like any other small alien colony he’d been to, and for some reason that was hard for him to wrap his head around.

Suddenly, he felt a hand tugging at his own, and he looked down to see a young Galra girl looking up at him with wide yellow eyes and raised eyebrows.

“Hey, who are you?” she asked. Her nose crinkled. “You smell weird.”

Keith did his best not to look offended, which was ineffective. “That’s kind of rude to say.”

“He smells weird, too, but it’s different weird,” the girl said, gesturing to Lance with her head.

Keith frowned. “What is that even supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know. I just noticed you smell weird.”

“I see you’ve met Jeddhas,” Crochus said, walking up from behind Keith and Lance. 

“Jeddhas?” Keith said, looking back down at the girl, who was observing Keith’s hand in earnest, though it wasn’t like it was too radically different from a Galra hand.

“Mekhas’s daughter,” he explained.

Lance and Keith’s heads turned to him in unison. “Mekhas had a daughter?!” Lance said.

“Indeed, though Mekhas left while Jeddhas was still very young. She probably doesn’t remember her mother.”

Keith looked at Jeddhas’s face, though he quickly realized he wouldn’t be able to tell anything about her just by looking at her. “Was she born here?” he asked.

“Yes she was,” Crochus answered. “Most children of divergents are not yet well incorporated into the empire, so exile isn’t as effective. They are usually killed, to save time and resources.”

“Killed?  _ Children _ ?” Lance said, a look of horror on his face.

“It is likely that the children of divergents inherited whatever coding error their parent has, so the empire chooses to cut out the weakness before it gets the chance to spread further.”

“That’s horrible…”

Crochus’s face was set like stone, but Keith couldn’t tell if it was out of effort or if he was legitimately unaffected. “If you’d like to continue our conversation, or perhaps your questions from last night, might I suggest joining myself and the others in the other room.”

Keith nodded, starting to turn to follow him when he felt Jeddhas tug him back by his hand. “Wait! You still didn’t tell me who you are.”

Keith couldn’t help but smile a little at her insistence. “My name’s Keith, and the other one is Lance,” he said, pointing with his thumb.

“Okay. Kiss and Lance. Got it!” she said, running off before Keith could correct her, the words lodged in his throat behind the grimace on his face.

“Come on, Kiss, you gonna make us wait all day?” Lance chuckled.

Keith’s frown deepened. “Go quiznak yourself, Lance.”

 

Khala and the others were waiting for them in the room from the previous night. Keith and Lance took their seats at the same bench they’d sat on the night before. They were handed plates of some sort of edible-looking something that smelled only slightly more appetizing than the goo from the castle but they both accepted graciously.

“I thought we might continue our conversation over breakfast,” Khala said, her own plate in hand. “I’m sure you’d like to get on your way quickly, but before you jump into the rest of your questions I’d like to pose one of my own first, if you don’t mind.”

“That’s fine,” Keith said.

“Who are you?” Khala asked.

Keith and Lance exchanged a glance.  They were getting that question a lot this morning. “That’s…” Keith started.

“We’re part of the resistance,” Lance said, and technically it wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t very strong for a last-ditch effort.

Khala pressed her lips together, unimpressed. “Let me rephrase,” she said. “Are you the paladins of Voltron?”

Busted. Keith sighed. “Was it that obvious?”

“You have a certain air about you. That and your rather weak disguise using Altean armor made it easy enough to figure out,” Khala said, smiling playfully. “I understand your concern about identity. It’s definitely not something that you should go about boasting to the colony, as some of us may still hold some resentment against you.” Her expression grew more serious. “However, our people cannot live safely in a universe governed by Zarkon’s empire. We may be small in number, but please let my words be an official statement of support for your initiative from the exiles of Azul.”

Keith couldn’t help how his eyebrows shot up, though he did stop himself from saying anything, unlike Lance, who almost started choking as he coughed out, “Wait,  _ what? _ ”

“We appreciate your support,” Keith said, deciding that  _ someone _ had to pretend to be Shiro in the situation and since Lance was busy expelling his breakfast from his lungs, Keith guessed it had to be him. “We’ll do our best to continue fighting so that no one must suffer by the empire’s hands.”

“Thank you,” Khala said. “Now, with that out of the way, let’s get back to your previous matter. What other questions can we answer for you?” 

Keith waited until Lance was breathing normally again to ask his question. He’d been thinking about it since the night before.“You mentioned last night that most Galra share certain instincts with each other. Do you think you could give any examples?” he asked.

The Azulan leaders all seemed to draw their brows together in thought at the same time.

“It’s not something that we often think about, I admit. I’m afraid most of them are highly contextual and very difficult to explain,” Sirth said.

“Some of them are very basic, like knowing protocol for certain emergency situations,” Crochus added. “Most Galra also seem to instinctively mimic the empire’s salute. It’s one of the earliest-presenting instincts.”

“Earliest presenting? What, is there a timeline or something?” Lance said.

“In a way,” Khala said. “Most Galra are born with the basic instincts, but as young Galra start to mature, their other, more specific instincts are more likely to be triggered. Once the first one presents, the others tend to come more easily. Though most Galra will probably never present all of the instincts in their coding.”

“Is it possible to, I don’t know,  _ not _ do… whatever it is the instinct tells you to do?” Keith asked.

“I’m sure you are of a species that also understands instincts,” Khala said. “They are very strong, but they are not ultimately deterministic. You can always fight to overcome them, but it takes work. Many Galra are not even aware of what is instinct and what is not.”

Next to her, Sirth appeared to be deep in thought. “There is one more thing that is common across Galra that I feel may be worth mentioning,” she said. “There are certain words that can act as commands to other Galra, but only when spoken in the ancient language. These commands can change someone’s very will. Most Galra have to be conditioned to overcome the instinct when they mature, lest someone aside from the emperor abuse the power of those words. They are still extremely forbidden. Within the empire as well as here.”

Lance’s eyebrows drew together. “That’s kinda messed up,” he said. “How did that become… a thing?”

Sirth shook her head. “It’s a trait that’s been around for thousands of years, possibly longer than Zarkon himself. Most believe that at some point Galra had the instinct conditioned into them. No one knows for sure how, but it was undoubtedly a dreadful process.”

“I see,” Keith said. He set his mostly-finished plate aside and looked at the three leaders. “Thank you for all of your help. I think you’ve answered everything we wanted to ask about.” 

“You’re sure there is nothing else?” Khala asked.

“If we had more time, maybe. But since we don’t, I think you’ve given us plenty to work with,” he said, standing. The others followed him.

“I understand. I hope you are able to use this knowledge to help you in your endeavors,” she said, then smiled in a vaguely threatening sort of way. “And of course I would hate for it to be used carelessly.”

“Of course,” Lance said, nodding.

“Myself and Sirth will escort you out,” Khala went on, walking toward the exit.

“We appreciate it,” Keith said, guiding Lance forward with a hand on his shoulder.

Khala and Sirth took them through a long series of winding tunnels that Keith didn’t even remember going through the day before. They got to the room where the tunnel had split off in three directions and Keith tried to get his bearings as they stopped.

“Just follow that tunnel,” Sirth said, pointing across the room. “There are no branches from here so you should make it back outside without any issues.”

“Thank you again for all of your help,” Keith said. Lance nodded next to him.

Khala smiled, though it was difficult to see in the low light. “Perhaps someday when conditions are more favorable, we’ll be able to meet again. Until then, good luck.”

“Thank you. I wish you the best as well.”

Keith and Lance turned and the two groups parted ways without another word.

 

Back outside, Keith squinted at the sudden daylight. He saw the ship in the same place it had been before and started jogging over toward it in a sudden burst of energy.

Hunk met them outside the ship with a bear-hug. “There you are! I was starting to freak out a little when you guys didn’t answer the comm.”

He released them and Keith scratched the back of his head sheepishly, glancing at Lance. “Oh, yeah. I guess we forgot our helmets.” He turned back, looking at the mouth of the cave. “Guess we’re not getting those back anytime… ever.”

“Yeah, I did an experiment to see if that promise potion thing was the real deal or not and I would  _ not _ recommend trying to go back into that cave. I felt like my head was going to explode,” Hunk said.

“Geez. Good to know,” Lance muttered.

“Well, anyway, let’s get back to the ship. Shiro was really starting to get antsy, especially when I couldn’t contact you guys. I’d start practicing your mission report and your apology now while there’s still time.”

Keith was already not looking forward to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all the comments I got on the last chapter, it really means a lot!!!
> 
> illustration: https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/160057875893/heads-i-win-tails-you-lose-update-heres-the
> 
> Character sketches: https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/160056424223/some-character-sketches-from-heads-i-win-tails-you
> 
> bother me on tumblr if you want~ @sexythewalkingcatfish


	3. Bonding Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins process the information they got from the Azulans as they prepare for the next mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter was kind of a Lot so i figured you guys deserve a break. Enjoy this Team Bonding chapter. With a bit of Lance POV thrown in!

“So basically what you’re telling me is you found out all of this information about the Galra from  _ someone _ , but you can’t tell us who it was, or where you were, or how you got there. Is that right?”

Keith, Lance, and Hunk had just finished summing up what they’d learned from the mission, very carefully avoiding addressing any of the specifics about Azul. Even talking about the exchange at all was giving Keith a slight headache. He assumed it was a sort of warning for what would happen if he tried to disclose anything more specific. 

Lance looked like he was having a similar experience. “Yeah. I’m telling you, Shiro, this promise potion business is no joke.”

They’d been able to relay most of their first exchange with Solom, though, so it wasn’t like they were leaving Shiro and the others completely in the dark. They at least knew that they’d been interacting with Galra, which Keith could sense Shiro was not very comfortable with.

Allura didn’t seem too concerned about the details, though. “ _ Coding _ . I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this before! It must be something the Galra don’t want getting out. This could explain so much,” she said with that starry-eyed look that she got when she was excited about something. “Coran, I hope you got all of that.”

“No worries, Princess, I recorded the whole thing,” Coran replied from a few feet away, tapping at one of the many screens on the Bridge.

“Excellent. You’ve done great work, paladins,” Allura said.

Shiro sighed then smiled. “She’s right. Great job out there, guys. You should go get some rest.”

Keith was happy to go back to his room and crash for a few hours. Now that the moment was wearing off, he could tell just how much the mission has exhausted him. Maybe he could just pass out and sleep through the whole day.

 

So on second thought, maybe sleeping the entire day hadn't been the best idea. On the bright side, he'd probably been out for at least 12 hours. On the down side, he was now  _ wide  _ awake at what was approximately 3 in the morning.

And he was  _ starving _ .

He made his way to the kitchen to whip himself up a little after-midnight food goo snack, stumbling when he saw Lance was already in there.

“You can't sleep either?” Lance asked, sitting at one of the chairs around the island. He looked like he'd been hit by a truck—or like he  _ wanted _ to be hit by a truck—hair sticking up in odd places and dark circles strong enough to become sentient.

“More like slept too much,” Keith said. “My head hit the pillow after the mission report and I was out like a light.”

“Ugh. Lucky. I feel so tired, but whenever I try to sleep I'm just too riled up.”

“That sucks.”

“Tell me about it. I think I'm getting delirious. Earlier I almost started talking to a spoon.”

Keith hummed in response as he got himself a plate. He sat down a few seats away from Lance to eat, not really in the mood to keep up a conversation.

Lance was unusually quiet. Keith looked up at him, seeing that he appeared to be staring at his palm, thinking hard about something. That was never a good sign.

Keith was standing up to put his dish in the space dishwasher when it hit.

“What if, like, your fingers just… kept going… Like if at the end of your fingers there were just… More fingers.”

“I'm out.” Keith turned around and walked toward the door.

“No wait! Keith! Just hear me out for a second. Think of all the things you could pick up!” Lance said. “Think of how many bouncy balls you could hold. What if you could juggle with them? Imagine how impressive that would be. I bet you there's an alien out there with finger fingers.”

Keith put his hand on the panel to open the door.

“Keith,  _ listen _ .”

“Come talk to me when you're done being weird,” Keith said. “You need to sleep, dude”

“No wait! I have something that I wanted to ask you. I swear it's serious this time.”

Keith was halfway out the door. “ _ What? _ ”

Lance paused like he was trying to think of how to phrase it. “When you erase a word, where does it go?”

Keith closed the door behind him.

  
  


After Shiro dismissed them, Lance had tried his best to take Shiro’s advice and rest up. He lounged around in the common area for an hour or two, chatting with whoever came by, but everyone seemed to have better things to do than sit around and talk so Lance decided to go back and hang out in his room. He took the more disappointing Altean version of a shower—disappointing because the water was only ever lukewarm and already had whatever soap mixed in, so one could only reasonably stay in for about five minutes before seeming desperate—then sat on his bed and stared at the ceiling for a while.

He considered a nap, but whenever he tried to sleep his mind wouldn’t stop racing. Images of the Azulan exiles flickered through his mind as he tried to make sense of the past two days. Coding, promise juice, secret colonies, Galra that actually  _ didn’t _ want them dead. It was a little overwhelming to say the least.

And then there was the other thing.

Which wasn’t  _ really _ a thing.

It was just kinda… a little thing.

_ Not _ that he was hung up on the way he’d caught Keith staring at him when he woke up.

He was just maybe thinking about it a lot and couldn’t get it out of his head. The way he didn’t really get messy bedhead like Lance thought he would, or the way his eyes didn’t quite open all the way right after he’d woken up, or the way his face turned pink and his lips pouted when Lance started teasing him about staring… 

But he wasn’t  _ crushing _ on Keith. That would be stupid. They were rivals. They hated each other! That’s what rivals are supposed to do. It was, like, rival code that you’re not supposed to develop a crush on your fellow rival. Obviously.

Lance was starting to get hungry. Since napping was apparently a no-go, he made his way up to the kitchen to whip himself up some gourmet Food Goo™. He ran into Hunk while he was there.

“Hey, bud, how’s the resting going?” Hunk asked, leaning against the counter over an empty plate.

Lance made some sort of groaning sound in response, unable to form words that really conveyed his emotions.

Hunk chuckled. “I feel about the same,” he said.

“I feel like I haven't slept in years but every time I lay down it's like the problems of the entire universe are running through my head,” Lance complained. 

“Yeah. Speaking of the, uh, problems of the universe, I'd been meaning to ask you something.”

Lance raised his eyebrows. “What's up?”

“I was just wondering if, like, anything else happened after I left that you wouldn't have been able to tell the others at the briefing since, well, you know.”

Lance pursed his lips in thought for a moment. “Oh, there was one thing,” he said. “You know how, uh, Keith and I met that Galra soldier that had apparently escaped exile back on that storm planet?”

“Yeah, what about her?”

“She had a daughter, back in the colony.”

“Whoa, dude. Did you meet her? Did she, like, say something to you, or?”

“Yes we met her and no, not really. She just said we smelled weird then said Keith's name wrong. But still, I don't know, it kinda stuck out to me?”

“It’s kind of weird to think about Galra having families,” Hunk admitted. “I mean, I guess  _ obviously _ they have to, but.”

“We've just spent so much time thinking about them as soldiers, it's hard to think about them as people,” Lance finished.

“Sounds a little messed up when you put it that way,” Hunk said.

“It  _ is _ a little messed up.”

Hunk looked down. “I guess you're right.” He shook his head. “But it doesn’t change the fact that the Galra have done terrible things to people all across the universe”

“The  _ empire _ has done terrible things. The Galra are just… doing what they’ve been told to do since they were born.” Lance frowned. “I’m not saying that it makes what they did okay, but… you can’t say that the Galra aren’t victims of this system, too.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t make it okay,” Hunk said, sighing. “Anyway, I’m getting kinda tired, so I’m gonna hit the hay. You should get some rest, too, Lance.”

Lance was still frowning. “Yeah, sure. Night, Hunk.”

“Night.”

Lance didn’t get any sleep that night.

  
  


A few days later, after traveling far, far away from the Vynyx, Allura hit them with their next mission. 

“I'm sure you all know about how the Galra have started implementing a new tactic to extract quintessence from entire planets, leaving them barren in just a matter of hours,” Allura began. “There is a planet called Lemue nearby, historically an Altean ally, that recently fell victim. As a peaceful people, the Lemu had very little to defend themselves with, and they were unable to stop the Galra from taking the life from their planet. Fortunately, many of them were able to evacuate on smaller ships, however they have requested the help of Voltron to offer support and protection as they attempt to relocate to another star system.”

Keith felt his stomach sink.

“Their entire planet?!” Pidge said, eyebrows drawn together.

“I’m afraid so,” Coran said, looking down. “From what we understand, this isn’t the first time it’s happened,” he went on. “Unfortunately the other victim planets had no survivors. This is the first time we’ve been contacted about it.”

“The entire planet…” Lance repeated, staring at his hands in his lap.

“That’s messed up,” Hunk said softly. “How could they do something like that?”

“The Galra are ruthless. They have no regard for life. They’ll do whatever it takes to get what they want, even if it means destroying everything,” Pidge hissed.

Keith wrung his hands together, having trouble responding to the situation.

“I know this is very difficult to hear for all of us, but that is exactly why we must do whatever we can to aid the survivors,” Allura said.

“But where can they go?” Keith asked. “Won't the empire just suck the life out of the next planet they go to?”

“The Lemu people have located a planetary system, the Otyin system, that the Galra for some reason tend to stay away from. They ask that we escort them there, as they have no other means to protect themselves,” Allura said.

“And how do we go about doing that?” Keith asked.

“Because whatever it is that keeps the Galra away doesn't allow us to safely wormhole jump to the surrounding area, we’ll have to provide support for a few days’ time,” Coran answered. 

“But we're not entirely clear on what it is that's causing the interference, so keep your guards up.” Shiro added. “We'll be meeting up with the Lemu refugees the day after tomorrow, so everyone use that time to prepare. We don't expect much in terms of fighting, but we have be ready for anything.”

 

“Preparing” apparently included a lot of extra hours on the training deck, not that Keith was complaining. Over time he'd grown accustomed to the energy of the other paladins in the room while he trained, whether they were working alongside him or if they were doing their own thing elsewhere. As much as he enjoyed solitude, he also found comfort in the company.

Pidge and Hunk had even asked him for some pointers on a few fighting techniques that afternoon, and while he was sort of shit at explaining things, it was nice to feel useful.

“You look like you're in a good mood,” Shiro said, finding Keith back in the training room an hour after dinner, even though everyone had been there practically the whole day.

“Do I?” Keith asked.

“You sometimes get this kind of troubled look on your face while you train, but right now you're relaxed.”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Keith said, smiling a little.

“It's good to see the team in a good mood before a mission.” Shiro returned the smile. “We were talking about taking the rest of the night off and watching some sort of Altean movie in the lounge, if you're interested.”

Keith looked at the room behind him hesitantly.

“You've been working hard today. Come on, it'll be a nice way to decompress.”

Keith sighed. “Yeah, sure. I guess I can take a break,” he finally agreed.

“Then let's go! I think Hunk was going to try to make popcorn.”

“Space popcorn,” Keith mused.

Shiro laughed. “Space popcorn.”

 

The space popcorn wasn't a massive failure. It was weird, but not a failure. Keith settled himself on the couch next to Hunk—with the space popcorn—and Lance decided to insert his body directly next to Keith so that he could reach over to the bowl, and probably also to be obnoxious.

Keith shoved at him with his shoulder. “Move your bony ass,” he griped.

“What? No, I'm trying to reach the popcorn. And I couldn't just reach over Pidge,” who was sitting on Hunk's other side, “that would be rude. And my ass is  _ not _ bony.”

“How would you know? You've never sat on you.”

“Well—since when have I ever sat on  _ you _ ?”

“Guys, shut up, it's about to start,” Hunk said.

The movie was shown on some kind of hologram screen. Keith wasn't entirely sure what it was about, since the translation was a bit spotty and the plot was sort of scattered, but he could tell that there was some sort of horrifying space monster that fed on the souls of the powerful or something. At least the effects were pretty good.

Halfway through it, Lance had started clinging to Keith's arm, like that could somehow save him from the planet-sized soul-consuming entity of whatever the hell the monster was called. Keith thought about shaking him off, but the way Lance's face had gone two shades paler over the course of the movie actually managed to bring out a little sympathy in Keith's cold bitch heart, so he just let it be. He guessed Lance just wasn't the horror movie type.

By the end of the movie, Keith's arm was completely numb.

“What the hell was  _ that _ ? I thought we were trying to  _ relax _ after a long day, not feed my nightmare fuel for the next 60 years with some Altean horror flick!” Lance said.

Allura tilted her head like she was confused. “What do you mean? That was just a documentary on the Galactic Essenciavore Beast. I thought it was rather informative.”

“That thing's  _ real _ !?” Lance said.

“Why, of course! How else would they have gotten the footage?”

Keith thought Lance was going to pass out.

“Shiro, can I sleep in your room tonight?” Hunk said.

“Me too!” Pidge added quickly.

Shiro shook his head and smiled. “Guys, the Galactic Essence… whatever isn't going to get you while you sleep.”

“Still…” Pidge said.

Keith stretched his arms behind his head. “Anyway, while you guys figure that out, I'm going to bed. See you all in the morning.”

Real or not, Keith wasn't the type to let something he saw in a movie freak him out enough to stop him from sleeping, and so he left, waving as he turned away.

His arm was still tingling.

 

It had to have been at least 2 in the morning when Keith got a knock on his door.

Keith groaned, wondering what the fuck was so pressing that someone needed to knock on his door in the middle of the goddamn night. He considered just ignoring it for a minute, but the knocking came back again after a few seconds, and so Keith dragged his sleep-numb body out of bed, one hand on his knife out of habit.

He pressed his hand to the panel on the door and stood eye to nose with Lance, who had a pillow tucked under his arm and a blanket draped around his shoulders.

“Keith! Buddy! I knew you’d be awake,” Lance said, slipping past Keith and letting himself inside.

“I wasn’t,” Keith grumbled.

“Isn't tonight just great? The air is cool, the breeze is light, the moon is full, perfect conditions come say hi to my friend Keith. Oh and since I’m already here I’m sleeping on your floor tonight,” Lance went on, like Keith hadn’t even spoken, then yawned dramatically. “Wow, it’s so late! Oh how the time flies. I’m gonna hit they hay.” He threw his pillow and blanket down next to Keith’s bed and laid down. “You should probably get some sleep too. It’s not good for you to be staying up this late, you know.”

Keith stared down at Lance in his sleeping robe, sprawled out on Keith’s floor, in Keith’s  _ space _ , and his eye twitched. “What the fuck, Lance, get out of my room.”

“What!?” Lance said, springing up. “After you so kindly invited me inside, you’re just gonna make me leave?”

“I did not do that,” Keith said.

“Come on, man, just this once. It’ll be fun. Think of it as team bonding.”

“Why are you here?”

“Well Shiro only has so much space in his room and with Hunk and Pidge already in there I didn’t want to crowd them out but I figured Allura probably wouldn’t even let me into her room and I don’t even  _ know _ where Coran sleeps so I then I just ended up coming—”

“Is this because of the movie?” Keith covered his hand with his mouth. “Holy shit, you’re kidding.”

“I, fhh, pshh, ha,  _ no _ it isn’t, fss, because of the, pff, the  _ movie _ ,” Lance sputtered. “I just thought it would be, uh, fun!”

“Okay, whatever, Lance. You can stay.  _ Just this once _ . This is the only time,” Keith said, walking back over to his bed. “But we’re going to sleep right now, and if you talk or snore ever I’m literally taking my foot and kicking you into space.”

“You got it! I knew I could count on you, Keith!”

“Shut up and go to bed.”

 

On second thought, Keith should have been expecting this. Honestly, what else  _ possibly _ could have happened, because there was certainly no way Lance could ever just stay put and sleep like a  _ normal _ human.

And yet Keith was still surprised when he woke up, face-to-face with the Blue Paladin, who had somehow crammed himself in the space between Keith and the wall in the middle of the night without Keith waking up. He had to give him credit for being stealthy, at least.

Keith was at a bit of a loss for what to do. He tried scooting away, only to find that all of his limbs were tangled up with Lance’s so he couldn’t move. He grimaced, trying a little harder to free himself, only for Lance to pull him closer.

So he was a snuggler. Great.

His options were limited. He could either wait it out or try to wake up Lance himself. And Keith had to piss, so the latter option was looking more likely.

“Lance,” he tried.

No response.

“Lance, wake up.”

Still nothing.

“LANCE!”

Keith saw his mouth twitch.

“Okay, cockwad, I know you’re awake,” Keith deadpanned.

Lance opened his eyes and winced, but he couldn’t keep the smirk off of his face. “Ouch. Cranky much?”

“What are you doing in my bed?”

“Were you staring at me again?”

“I’ve barely been awake for five minutes.”

“So you were staring at me for a whole five minutes?! Wow, Keith, that’s a little creepy.”

“Like there was anywhere else to look! You trapped me!”

“I did what now?” Lance looked down at how their legs were twisted together and Keith’s arm was trapped under his side. “What can I say? I’m a cuddler.”

“ _ Why are you in my bed?! _ ” Keith repeated.

“I don’t know! Maybe I got cold, it’s not like I remember getting up in the middle of the night!”

“So what, did you just  _ sleepwalk _ over here?!”

“Probably!”

Keith took the hand that wasn’t trapped under Lance and ran it down his face. “Whatever. Just get off of me, I need to pee.”

“Alright, alright,” Lance said, carefully sitting up and untangling himself.

Keith, finally free, stumbled out of bed and headed for the bathroom connected to his room.

“Holy shit, do you seriously sleep with your knife strapped on?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“How is that comfortable?”

“I’m used to it.”

“You have the good sense not to wear pants, but you still go to bed with a knife strapped to your back?”

Keith rubbed his eyes and groaned. “It’s too early for me to be having this conversation with you.”

“I’m just trying to understand why you don’t love yourself.”

“I’m gonna go piss, and when I come out there had better be no trace of you ever being in my room so I can start forgetting that the last twelve hours ever happened.”

“Your coldness breaks my heart, Keith.”

If Keith could slam an automatic sliding door he would’ve.

 

When Keith went into the kitchen later, Lance was the only other one in there. They had woken up a bit late, so the others probably ate earlier. 

“So I left without a trace like you asked,” Lance said as Keith foraged for breakfast.

“I saw,” Keith said, only vaguely focused on Lance.

“Except as I was leaving, Pidge saw me, and may have possibly gotten the wrong idea.”

“What.” Keith stopped his rummaging, looking back at Lance with a frown.

“It’s an easy mistake to make, I mean, I can’t help that I just wake up with  _ luscious _ sex hair in the morning.”

“ _ What the fuck, Lance?!” _

“I tried to explain, really! But for some reason they didn’t buy the whole ‘impromptu sleepover party’ thing.”

“ _ Lance _ .”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m sure things will clear up.”

If Keith was religious he would be praying for patience. But he wasn’t, and instead he was using every fiber of his willpower not to launch himself at Lance’s throat. He tried weighing the pros and cons, but the very thought of Lance not talking ever again was just so appealing that Keith didn’t even mind that Voltron would need a new Blue Paladin.

“Hunk! Good morning!” Lance called out, and Keith wasn’t entirely sure it wasn’t just a distraction tactic, until he heard the kitchen door close behind him.

“Morning Lance, Keith,” Hunk said, coming up behind Keith and putting a hand on his shoulder.

The next moment Keith was behind him, twisting his arm behind his back and narrowly stopping himself just before nailing him in the kidney.

He was stunned for a moment before he let go suddenly. “Oh, my god.” 

“ _ Whoa _ I did not see that one coming,” Hunk said, hands up, expression bewildered.

“Hunk, I am so sorry. I don't even know what I was… I don't know what happened, I just…”

“You've really been training up those reflexes, huh,” Hunk said. “Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that.”

“No, it wasn't your fault. I don't know what came over me,” Keith reassured.

“Jesus, Keith, no need to take your aggression out on Hunk,” Lance said, only slightly kidding.

“Fuck off, I just said it wasn’t on purpose,” Keith hissed.

“ _ Aaaanyway _ ,” Hunk jumped in before they could get too into their bickering. “I came up here looking for you guys to tell you Shiro and everyone are waiting on the Bridge to go over the mission, since we’re due to meet up with the Lemu people in about an hour,” he said. “You can eat first, though. I’ll tell everyone you’ll be up soon.”

“Thanks, Hunk,” Keith said, nodding.

“Yeah, see you in a few,” Lance said.

Hunk left with a wave and as soon as the door closed behind him Lance’s eyes were on Keith.

“Dude, what the hell was that?” he asked, in a demanding sort of way.

“I told you I don’t know,” Keith grumbled.

Lance didn’t look convinced.

“It was just  _ reflex _ or something, I don’t know. I was really worked up. It’s not like I  _ wanted _ to hurt him. I stopped myself, didn’t I?”

“Whatever you say, dude. Let’s just hurry up and go.”

 

The briefing started as soon as Keith and Lance walked through the door. There were various images on the screens around them, pictures of the planet Lemue before it was drained, their ships and their leaders. Allura started with a rundown on the people themselves.

The Lemu were not human-shaped like the Galra and the Alteans. Allura explained that there were a few body-types that tended to emerge universally among intelligent species. Humans fell under the “bimanipdid” category, which was apparently the most common, and the Lemu were the less common quamanipdids. She listed a lot of other names that Keith didn’t bother wasting energy remembering, instead studying the images on the Bridge’s main screen.

The Lemu had four arms and four legs, no mouths and vaguely reptilian-shaped heads, their thick scale-like skin ranging from maroon to dark brown. They apparently communicated mostly telepathically so Team Voltron’s (apparently not-so) universal translators would be pretty useless. They could also understand sign language, though, so the team would be drilled on some basic survival phrases for emergencies, while Allura handled the important conversations with the Lemu leaders herself since she was probably fluent in like 700 languages or something crazy like that. 

After that, Shiro started going into detail on what they would be doing.  The Lemu people had requested an escort to another galaxy to relocate to, since they had no means of their own to protect themselves. They were too many in number and the conditions around the galaxy were too unsafe to relocate via wormhole jump, so the journey would have to last a couple days. Because of that, the team would need to work on a rotation to ensure that they covered all sides without exhausting themselves. It was a partial risk to be unable to form Voltron immediately in the face of danger, but unless they had a particularly unfortunate run-in with another Galra fleet, there wasn’t much that a few of the lions couldn't handle on their own.

The biggest obstacle would probably be keeping the group together, especially if they came across any areas that might be difficult to navigate. Keith had a sinking feeling that he’d feel more like a herd dog than a paladin through all of this, but he told himself that it would be worth it, for the good of the universe. Or something.

As the briefing wrapped up, the castle-ship came up on the place the Lemu had gathered to wait. Keith hadn't really understood the sheer gravity of the situation they were dealing with until he saw the mass of ships clustered not too far away from where their planet had apparently once been. There were more ships than Keith thought he was capable of counting, somewhere in the thousands,  _ ten _ -thousands, probably. If this was just the “many” that had been able to escape the planet, Keith didn't want to think about how many more hadn't. 

Shiro, Keith, and Lance were up for the first rotation, Shiro in the lead with Keith and Lance flanking either side of the group and the castle ship bringing up the rear. The objective was simple enough: keep the group together and avoid space rocks.

Keith imagined this was very similar to how commercial airline pilots felt. The Lemu spacecrafts could only travel so fast, so Keith had to hold back a  _ lot _ , cruising along so slowly he could even feel his lion dozing. And it was basically all straight flying, following Shiro’s lead and making sure stragglers didn’t get too far behind. Keith foresaw the next couple of days being very, very long.

“Hey, Keith, how’re you holding up?” he heard Lance ask, coming through a private audio channel. “I am  _ soooo _ bored. We’ve only been flying for like two hours but I can feel my brain starting to melt and drain out of my ears.”

A lovely mental image. “Just focus on flying, Lance,” Keith said. 

“But I’m  _ bored _ , Keith. Entertain me!”

“Why don’t you go bother Shiro or something?” Keith sighed.

“Shiro told me to bother you.”

Keith groaned. “Your shift ends first anyway. Stop being such a pissbaby.” They were on a rolling shift where one pilot switched in every five hours, so since it was the first shift, Lance and Keith wouldn’t have to stay for as long.

“Five hours is a  _ long time _ .”

“Just wait until you get fifteen tomorrow.”

Lance groaned aggressively into the comm. “Don’t remind me.”

“Shut up and drive your lion.”

Keith closed the channel and settled back in his seat, seeing a few ships start to stray from the group and drifting down to herd them back in.

“ _ Keeeeeiiiiiitthhh _ ,” Lance whined through the comm a few minutes later.

“ _ What? _ ” Keith hissed.

“Sing me a song.”

“Sing you a—what the fuck, Lance, I’m not doing that.”

“But I have  _ oldies _ stuck in my head. It’s like mom music. Katy Perry, Keith. Katy Perry.”

“... _ Who _ ?”

Lance gasped. “You don’t know Katy Perry!? I don’t know whether to be appalled or happy for you.”

“I don’t know why you’re so surprised.”

“What  _ else _ do you not know? I bet you’ve never even looked at a computer. Have you ever searched the internet? Do you remember the fall of  _ Google  _ in ‘35 when our new  _ Moogle  _ overlords came into power? I bet you haven’t even seen the new color they discovered six years ago.”

“What? The hell are you talking about?”

“How can you know  _ so little  _ about the very world that we inhabit…ed.”

Keith sensed a change in tone as Lance spoke. The line fell quiet for a little while, but it stayed open. “Lance?” Keith called tentatively.

“What? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I was just thinking. About stuff.”

Keith couldn’t believe what he was about to ask. “What…  _ kind _ of stuff?”

Lance didn’t talk at first, like he was debating whether or not to actually answer. “Mostly, like, Earth stuff,” he said, eventually. “Then I started thinking about Lemua, and how the Lemu will never get to go home and how fucked up that is. Like, their planet is literally gone. We at least still have a home, I guess. Even though it’s probably like millions of lightyears away and we can’t visit.”

Keith felt like a stone had sunk into the pit of his stomach. He tried to avoid thinking too much about Earth in general. It gave him weird mixed feelings that he would rather not try to sort out.

“Do you ever miss it? Earth?”

Leave it to Lance to pinpoint exactly what Keith did not want to think about. He winced, glad that the video feed was off. “There’s a lot of things about Earth that I miss, yeah,” Keith allowed himself.

“Like what?”

Lance’s tone was perfectly innocent, but Keith still found himself gritting his teeth before he answered, doing his best to keep it light but still honest. “The sky, mostly.  And the sun. And food with texture.”

Lance laughed a little at that. “That’s it? Never get homesick?”

Keith sighed. Was it a coincidence that Lance always asked the worst questions or did he have some sort of mind-reading powers he was hiding? “Hard to get homesick when there’s nobody there to go home to,” Keith said.

“… Oh, right.”

Keith didn’t know what else to say and it seemed like Lance didn’t know either. They fell into a silence that lasted for such a long time Keith lost track, but the line stayed open in the meantime.

Lance laughed suddenly.

“What?” Keith asked.

“Sorry, I forgot the line was still up. It wasn’t even funny,” Lance said a little too quickly.

“What was it?”

There was a pause. “I was just wondering which is one easier. Being taken away from home, or having your home taken away from you. But I guess they’re both pretty shitty in different ways. Then, I don’t know, I just laughed.”

“That’s… kind of dark,” Keith said, surprised.

“Yeah. Forget I said it. My head just goes to weird places sometimes.”

Keith felt an uncharacteristic flash of sympathy. “This mission is getting to you already, huh?”

Lance sighed. “It's barely even started.”

Keith pressed his lips into a hard line, slightly dreading what he was about to say. “I guess if it'll help you can just… keep talking. To me. If you need it.”

Keith could almost hear Lance smirking. “I don't believe it. Is this the notorious bad boy Keith Gang offering to be  _ nice _ ? To  _ me _ ? Oh I hope someone is tapping into our audio right now.”

“That's not my name. And don't make me take it back.”

“It's too late now. You've offered and I've accepted. Get ready for the best two and a half hours of your life.”

“I hope I crash.”

“That's the spirit, Keith!”

  
  


Despite having the shortest shift, Lance was exhausted when he got back to his room. He laid in bed, mind wandering before he went to sleep.

Lance honestly hadn’t expected Keith to keep talking to him when he hailed him during their first shift, but that mullet-headed punk was surprising him a lot lately. Maybe he hit his head too hard in training or something, Lance wasn’t sure. But he definitely wasn’t opposed to the attitude shift. 

He was a little hung up on their conversation, though. Keith never really did talk much about his memories from back on Earth, and Lance couldn’t decide if it was because they were too painful or if it he was just more of a private person. Though one would think after months of living in a confined space with a person they could stand to open up a little. It could’ve been that Keith was just more of an “in the moment” kind of guy, but Lance didn’t find that answer really satisfying.

Everybody had a past, and for some reason Lance found himself wanting to know more about Keith’s. He just wanted to know more about  _ Keith _ in general. Sure he knew the basic stuff. Bad haircut, reliable but doesn’t play nice with others, stubborn, kind of a dick.

But that was just stuff anyone could know. Surface level. Lance wanted to know more than that. He wanted to know what kind of music Keith liked, how he’d spent his free time back at the Garrison, what movies he’d seen. He wanted to know which teachers he’d hated, if he’d ever had pets, what he was bad at. What his favorite games were and how many places he’d been and if he’d ever been in love.

How his face looked when he woke up in the morning and how his hands felt under the gloves and how his lips— _ whoa,  _ okay back up a tick. Never mind that last part. Lance definitely was  _ not _ thinking about kissing Keith because, uh, no. No no. Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 dollars. 

Sure Lance teased him sometimes in what might be considered a “ _ flirtatious” _ way but that was just Lance being Lance. Just guys being dudes. Nobody was safe from the flirty teasing. And maybe Lance had fleetingly, for a moment, possibly thought about the idea of kissing Keith before, like when they woke up tangled in each other's’ arms after Lance accidentally crawled into Keith’s bed in the middle of the night while sleeping. But that didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t special. Lance thought about kissing a lot of people. It was in his nature.

It was just… none of them had ever been Keith before.

Lance groan-sighed in frustration. Maybe he could talk to Hunk about it during his next shift. In any case, he was getting nowhere on his own. Rolling over, Lance tried to suppress his swirling thoughts for long enough to fall asleep. He had a long mission ahead of him.

  
  


Keith hated to admit it, but the conversation did help the time go faster. Soon enough it was time for Pidge to switch in and Lance to, presumably, rest up before his next shift. There was much less conversation and those next five hours dragged, but eventually Keith was able to switch out with Hunk and take his approximately ten hours of rest.

Lance was nowhere to be found when Keith got back to the castle-ship so Keith assumed he was sleeping and decided he should try to do that, too. But despite feeling drained from the very, very boring hours of flying, Keith only managed to doze in and out, without any real sleep. 

He gave up a few hours in and decided to try wearing himself out in the training room instead.

He hadn’t been at it long when Shiro walked in, apparently having finished up his flying shift. He didn’t look nearly as tired as Keith thought he should have.

“I was afraid I might find you here,” he said, leaning up against the doorframe with his arms crossed, smiling slightly. “You should be resting up.”

“I tried,” Keith said, pausing the training program he was running and putting away his bayard. “Not tired.”

“I figured you’d say something like that.” Shiro pushed himself off of the doorframe and started walking over. “Your combat skills have been getting really sharp lately. You wanna try sparring with me, since you’re up? I know it’s been awhile since you fought something that wasn’t made of metal.” He looked down at his arm. “Well…  _ entirely _ of metal, I should say.”

Keith smirked, drawing his bayard again. “You’re on.”

Shiro came at him first, running to close the remaining distance and slashing at him with his hand glowing purple-white.

Freeze.

Keith watched Shiro charge forward in slow motion and he couldn’t move, eyes glued to the purple veins running through his metal arm. Something about it made him feel like his blood had turned to ice. He wanted to turn and run away and he couldn’t understand why.

Shiro stopped in front of him, hand a few inches from his face, expression a mixture of confusion and concern.

“Keith? Are you alright?”

Keith jumped as Shiro’s other hand came down on his shoulder.

“You locked up.”

Keith’s palm went to his forehead as he blinked rapidly. “Sorry. Sorry, I don’t know what…”

“Are you alright? Do you need to sit down?” Shiro’s voice was calming, movements careful and slow, and it helped Keith ground himself, somewhat.

“No, I’m… Maybe I’m more tired than I thought I was.” The icy feeling hadn’t quite subsided and his heart was slowing down but it still felt like it could burst out of his chest. “I’m gonna… I should go back and rest, I think.”

Shiro’s hand held steady on his shoulder as he tried to make his escape. “Are you sure you’re okay? Is there something going on?”

Keith shook his head. “Really, I just need some sleep. I’ll see you later, Shiro.”

 

Keith practically ran back to his room, working the rest of the adrenaline out of his system. He was spooked to say the least. That was the second time something weird like that happened to him in the past few days. First he was trying to punch out Hunk’s kidneys, then he was inexplicably frozen in place by  _ the color purple _ , of all things. It was like there something wrong with his head, these sudden urges washing over him like—like  _ instincts _ or— 

Keith laughed out loud.

It was the most ridiculous thing he could have thought of.  _ Instincts. _ Really? That was the best thing he could come up with?

He wasn’t some  _ Galra.  _ It wasn’t like he had some set of obscure instincts that were suddenly getting triggered out of nowhere. He was human. He looked human, he felt human, he grew up on Earth. He didn't have yellow eyes or purple fur or an insatiable desire to dominate every living creature he came across, and he definitely didn't have any weird inherited alien  _ instincts _ controlling him. There weren’t even any Galra  _ on _ Earth so it wasn’t like he could be a freaky half-breed.

And even if he  _ were _ some kind of Galra mutt, Keith was pretty sure he would've noticed by now. The Galra on Azul had said so themselves, the whole instinct “activation” whatever started when Galra were adolescents and Keith was pretty far past puberty, last time he checked. Plus, again, no purple fur.

So it was impossible. It had to be something else. He was just tired. It was just that last mission getting to his head. It was just stress. It was always just stress. Stress and exhaustion. Once things calmed down a bit, he’d be back to his old self. No freaky episodes, no unprompted violence, just his regular space-life. He just had to wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> illustration: https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/160305026983/tfw-your-not-space-boyfriend-sneaks-into-your-bed
> 
> some doodles: https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/160304838333/its-thursday-and-you-know-what-that-means
> 
> come say hi on tumblr if you want~ @sexythewalkingcatfish


	4. Homeless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team guides the Lemu to their new home in the Otyin galaxy, which stirs up their own feelings of homesickness. For most of them, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i forgot earlier but i wanna continue thanking Ikira for being my beta u are perfect and i'm love u
> 
> This chapter is all Keith's POV again. There will be some more Lance in the next chapter though!  
> enjoy the calm before the storm :^)

Lance hailed Keith during the second part of his shift the next day, presumably after Hunk had switched out with Shiro, and immediately started talking about nothing in particular. Keith was always amazed at how Lance could go on for hours without really having anything to talk about. Not that it was boring. He just seemed to come up with things out of nowhere and talk about them, somehow making it interesting. Keith hated to admit it, but he found himself enjoying Lance's drabbles, even though he barely had anything to add in himself.

The conversation started slowing down a couple hours in, though, and Keith figured Lance was feeling worn out from the flying.

It was after a particularly long pause that Keith asked, “You're not falling asleep behind the wheel, are you?”

“No, no… I am getting tired, though,” Lance said.

“I never thought I'd see the day.”

“Just wait until you hit the last part of your shift. I would kill for some space coffee right about now. Or, you know, regular coffee. But I'm trying to be realistic.”

Keith chuckled. “This is the worst of it though. We should get to wherever it is we're going sometime during our next shift, if this map is anything to go by.”

“I wonder what it's like, the galaxy we're going to. Must be some kind of messed up if even the Galra won't go there.”

“Maybe it's protected by that planet-sized monster that consumes the souls of the powerful.”

“Shut up, Keith! I'd managed to forget about that thing for a whole day and now I won't be able to sleep again tonight.”

“Well it's not like you'll have to worry about it eating _your_ soul, Lance.”

“WOW. Okay. Ouch. Low blow, Lee, low fucking blow.”

“Not my name.”

“Plus, my soul is _way_ more powerful than yours so if there's anyone that doesn't need to be worried, it's you. So you're welcome for being here so that I can sacrifice myself for the greater good.”

“Aw, you think saving my soul is for the greater good? That's so sweet of you.”

“Uh, _no_ , that is, pah, _not what I meant_ , you, wrong-things-sayer,” Lance sputtered.

“You've always had a way with words, Lance. But also my soul is definitely more powerful.”

“Is not!”

“Is so.”

“Prove it!”

“Uh,” Keith explained eloquently.

“Ha! See, you can't,” Lance boasted.

“Well let's see _you_ prove your soul-power—whatever.”

“Oh, I'll prove it to you, all right. Just you wait,” Lance said. “I'll do something that proves my soul is a billion times stronger than yours could ever be.”

“Uh-huh. I'm waiting with bated breath,” Keith deadpanned.

He found a weird sort of comfort in their banter. Maybe it was the exhaustion starting to get to him, but Lance was surprisingly more tolerable over extended periods of one-on-one conversation than Keith would have ever expected. Not that he wouldn't continue to find new and interesting ways to get under Keith's skin. Even so, it was making the mission much more tolerable than he had expected and, dare he say, even enjoyable at times.

And he missed it when it was over. The conversation all but stopped in Lance’s last hour, a show of his exhaustion, until eventually Pidge rotated in, letting Lance go back and sleep before (what would hopefully be) the last leg.

Keith was getting antsy. He could feel himself getting tired after not enough sleep the night before—ten hours of sitting in one place was draining both his energy and his will to live—but it was also making him more reactionary than normal, jumping at space rocks that weren't even close to him and being pushier than normal when trying to keep the group together. He wanted the background noise back to ground him.

He thought about hailing Shiro, but after their last encounter he didn't think he was ready to face him. Pidge, though…

Before he knew it, a voice box with their name was up on his screen, hand apparently moving of its own volition to call them.

“Keith? What is it? Is something wrong? This isn't about the eraser thing again, is it?” they asked in rapid succession.

“What? No, I, uh, just wanted to talk,” Keith said.

There was a pause. “Who are you and what have you done with Keith?”

“Nothing? It's just me?”

“You. Willingly seeking out conversation with another person? Forgive me if I find it a little out of the ordinary,” they said. “So what's this really about?”

Keith groaned. “Literally, it's just nothing. I'm just looking for a way to help get me through the last part of this shift. Seriously, I’m going to fall asleep.”

There was a pause. “Is it about Lance?” Pidge pressed.

“Why would it be about Lance!?” Keith said, voice cracking slightly.

“Uh, maybe because I saw him come out of your room the other day and he winked at me then shot finger guns before sprinting back to his room?”

“ _He did what!?_ ” Keith screeched. That was _not_ the way he’d described it the other morning. So much for leaving without a trace and forgetting about that extremely awkward encounter forever. “That quiznak sucking asshole.”

“So I'm guessing it's _not_ what he made it look like.”

Keith sighed, running his hands down his face. This was exactly what he needed. Not like he had other, more important things to be worried about. “Lance was being a baby after the movie and invited himself into my room in the middle of the night to sleep on my floor. I didn't have a say in it.”

“Well that's a much less interesting story than I expected.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“But you guys _have_ been getting along pretty well lately.”

That was unexpected. “Uh? What makes you say that?”

“Well there was the last mission. And the time you got stuck under a rock together. And the movie the other night,” Pidge listed.

“You weren’t even there for two of those! Besides, it’s different when it’s for a mission.”

“I still saw how you guys were acting together afterwards. The fact that you both lived through it without ripping each other to shreds would have been literally unthinkable when we first started out.”

Okay, so that was true, but it was also very easy to improve from zero. And while he definitely wouldn’t say he and Lance were on _bad_ terms, _good_ seemed to be pushing it a little. They tolerated each other, sure. And sometimes they hung out, and had conversations about mundane topics, like space suits, and fingers, and the value of life.

So maybe it breached a _little_ past just the teammate status. But that didn’t mean they were, like, friends, or anything.

“I will take your lack of a response as a concession that I’m right,” Pidge said smugly.

“Whatever,” Keith said, rolling his eyes.

His heart stuttered when he saw a flash of color on front of him, what looked like a vivid nebula coming up in the distance. He felt a shiver run down his spine at the sight of it.

“Uh, Pidge, you’re at the head of the group right now, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You see that nebula up there? Are we… planning to go through it?”

“No, I don't think so. There was something weird about it when we tried to scan it. Our readers started freaking out so there’s no telling what’s in there, if it’s like corrosive or something, so we’re set to go under it.”

“I think… We should go through.” Something about the space around it was giving Keith all kinds of bad vibes.

“Uh, no, Keith. That would be stupid. It's just as easy to fly around it. It's not like space doesn't have enough space.”

“I'm flying ahead to get a closer look.”

“What? Keith! No! Just stick to the group! Get back here.”

But Keith was already soaring by, leaving his post and praying the Lemu ships on his side wouldn’t do anything dumb while he was gone. Allura was hailing him not a moment later to demand what was going on. Keith just replied, “Scouting,” and cut the transmission.

As he approached, his scanners started picking up some sort of… something. He couldn't actually figure out what he was looking at. He sent the readings out to the castle ship and to Pidge and Shiro right away, opening up a channel to talk to everyone.

“So somebody tell me what I'm looking at,” Keith said.

“Sure, after you tell me why you just decided to go off on your own and leave the entire left side unguarded,” Shiro replied.

“I don’t know, it’s just a _feeling_. It’s just for a second. The group will be fine.”

“Pidge and Shiro, move to flank  the group on either side, but stay toward the front. We’ll continue keeping up the rear,” Allura directed. “Keith, you had better have a good reason for this.”

“It’s a gut feeling, okay? Now the readings. Somebody who knows what they’re looking at tell me what I’m seeing.”

Pidge was the first to actually answer him. “These are just the same jumbled up readings we got when we tried to scan it earli—wait a second, aim lower.” Keith did. “There’s a pattern there. You're not close enough yet for me to know what this is coming from, but… I wanna say it looks like some sort of signal,” they said. “Wait, no, it's… that’s a… _sensor_?”

“Can those even show up on a scan?” Keith said.

“Most of them,” Pidge answered.

“But where is it coming from?” Shiro asked.

“I'm getting closer, hold on.” The nebula was like a massive fog in front of him, less vivid up close. The closer he got, the more scrambled his screen looked.  He turned down abruptly to follow the path they were supposedly planning on taking, and even Keith thought he could see the pattern as the readings straightened out.

“There! There it is! That’s got to be a sensor,” Pidge said.

“So there's some kind of sensor active around the nebula? But what for?” Allura wondered.

“I bet I can guess,” Keith said grimly.

Pidge sighed. “But what would the Galra need a random sensor out in the middle of space for?”

“Maybe they knew we were coming,” Keith said.

“Or, it could be connected to something else, like a sort of policing station,” Shiro said. “According to the maps we saw earlier, we're pretty close to a border between Commanders’ territories. There could be sensors in place to notify each other when something crosses the threshold.”

“Which would mean a lot of trouble for the ten-thousand Lemu ships that we're trying to smuggle over. No wonder they requested an escort. Surely they knew about this,” Keith said.

“But it looks like the sensors may not be able to pick us up though the nebula,” Pidge noted. “Whatever it is that scrambles our readings probably jams up theirs, too. It looks like your gut was right after all, Keith.”

“So going through is the better option, then,” Keith said.

“Assuming there's nothing in the nebula itself we have to worry about,” Shiro said.  “We can’t even tell what it’s made of.”

“So I'll keep scouting and report back when I know it's safe,” Keith said.

“And if the particles melt through your lion and leave you floating in the middle of space? It’s risky, Keith,” Pidge said.

“Isn’t that my job? The impulsive risk-taker? I know it’ll be fine to go through. Trust me. I’ll be back before you can even miss me.”

And at that he was speeding ahead, into the space fog.

 

It wasn’t very bright up close, more like a slightly tinted haze that surrounded him. His lion didn’t seem to be melting away, which was a plus, and there wasn’t much in terms of harmful debris blocking the path. Whatever weird signal-jamming properties the nebula had turned his comm to static while he was inside, though, which would be a risk when they went through, but if there really were Galra sensors surrounding this thing, he was willing to take it.

It only took a few minutes to get through at the speed Keith was going, though it would mean a couple hours for the group, unfortunately. When the fog started to clear, he scanned for signs of the sensor, relieved to see nothing. His comm was still out, so he turned around as soon as he was done so he could get back to the group before they could worry about him too much.

Another ten minutes later, he was close enough that Allura and the others could get a hold of him again, much to everyone’s relief.

“You didn’t melt!” Pidge exclaimed.

“The coast is clear,” Keith said. “There’s no sensor on the other side, either. But whatever that nebula is made of jammed all of my signals, so we won’t be able to communicate while we’re inside.”

“Unfortunate, but it’s better than the alternative,” Shiro said. “We’ll just have to be extra vigilant. Keith, I want you leading the group until we’re through. We need those flying instincts leading the way.”

Keith felt something in his stomach clench at that, but he held his composure, replying with a “Roger that.”

“I’ll notify the Lemu leaders of our change of plans,” Allura, said. “Keith, do your best to take it slow.”

Keith rolled his eyes but didn’t complain.

“If there’s a problem, signal me and I’ll switch out with you,” Shiro said.

“Got it. Let’s do this.”

 

They made it through the nebula without any major incident. They had to travel slowly, meaning Keith overstayed his shift a little, but he was already king of irregular sleep patterns so it didn’t really make him any more moody than usual.

He wished he could have gotten dressed out and gone immediately to bed, but there was this sliver of paranoia nagging him at the back of his mind, keeping him at bay.

Which was completely ridiculous, because he’d gone _over_ this with himself before. It was impossible. There was no reason he should be worried about it.

And that was why, he told himself, he was going to the Bridge to talk to Coran. For proof.  He was just confirming what he already knew. Keith. Wasn’t. Galra. Even if their weird instinct stuff supposedly “turned on” over time, he was sure he’d missed the window for that already, and Coran would be able to tell him that.

Allura and Coran were standing next to each other, looking at something on the screen above them when Keith came in. He was pretty sure neither of them had slept at all for the entirety of the mission. Keith wasn’t sure how they were doing it, maybe some kind of special Altean power, or maybe they had space coffee after all and just hadn’t told anyone about it.

“Hey, Coran, do you have a minute?” Keith asked.

“Keith! I thought you’d be in bed by now,” he said, jumping and turning around. “What do you need?” he asked, walking over to him.

“Just a quick question,” he said, waiting until he was standing next to him to ask. “You, uh, wouldn’t happen to know the age of adolescence for Galra, would you?”

Coran tapped his chin and looked up. “No, I’m afraid not. But I can certainly find out. Now let’s see, here…” He walked over to a different set of screens, tapped a few buttons and a couple pages of scrolling text popped up. “Aha! I found it.” He tapped a few more buttons and pulled up an article that Keith couldn’t read. “It says here that Galra mature late in their fifth ‘season,’ which equates to, let’s see, about… 17 to 19 of your Earth years. That would be close to your age now, wouldn’t it?”

 _Oh._ “Y-yeah, I guess it would,” he stammered.

“How interesting! It seems humans mature much more quickly than many other intelligent species,” he said, then turned back toward Keith with his eyebrows drawn together. “What brought all this about, anyway?”

Keith fumbled for a second. “I, uh, no reason. I was just thinking about some of the Galra I met back when I ah… yeah. Um. I was just curious,” he avoided expertly.

Coran looked like she was about to ask something else so Keith cut him off. “Well, I should be going now. One shift left before we make it to the… Whatever galaxy.”

“Right,” Coran said. “Okay, well, rest up. And great work out there today.”

Keith nodded at him but didn’t say anything, turning on his heels and doing his best not to look like he wanted to literally run out of the room.

The hallway was fair game, though, and as soon as he rounded the first corner, his feet were pounding against the floor as he all but launched himself to his room. He closed the door behind him and fell face-first into his mattress, arms above his head.

To clarify, Keith _wasn’t_ freaking out. So what if one of his biggest arguments against being Galra had just been pounded into the dust? There were plenty of other reasons why he was inexplicably able to do things he never learned and had weirdly accurate hunches that only started showing up around the last year, particularly in the past few weeks. Maybe he couldn’t think of any at the time, but they were there.

He didn’t want to be dealing with this right now. He’d just been sitting in a giant robotic lion for upwards of fifteen hours. He needed sleep and a clear head so he could get this mission over with and…

And then what? Do nothing? Wait for the next mission so he could just barely scrape through that one, too? As long as whatever it was kept happening to him without an explanation, he’d just keep _thinking_ about it.

And it wasn’t like whatever it was happening to him was necessarily _bad_ —in fact it seemed to benefit him most of the time. He just felt like there was something _wrong_ with him whenever it happened. It wasn’t normal. He knew it wasn’t normal. He wanted it to be. He wanted it to be chance, or coincidence, or luck. Fate. Karma. Anything.

But instead he just felt _alien_.

So he'd just keep telling himself he was just lucky. It was just coincidence. And he was just paranoid. He'd keep telling himself that until he fell asleep, and in the mornings to come, until it was true.

 

Keith felt a little better after an almost full night's sleep. Assuming they were still on schedule, they would be arriving at the Lemu people's new home, the Otyin system, during his shift, so he channeled all of his energy into focusing on that.

Immediately after he entered his lion he was roped into Lance and Hunk's group discussion. They were debating what kind of place Otyin would be and what made it so special, pausing just long enough to welcome him in.

“Keith! Welcome to the last leg! Get enough beauty rest last night?” Lance greeted.

“You're the only one that needs beauty sleep, Lance,” Keith replied.

“Okay, so back on topic,” Hunk said. “What is it, do you think, about this galaxy that's keeping the Galra out, anyway?”

“I bet it's fireballs,” Lance said without missing a beat. “Like, GIANT fireballs that rain down from the sky.”

“There is no ‘sky’ in space, Lance. Literally everything is the sky,” Keith argued.

“ _Exactly_ , that's why it would be such a problem! Just masses of fireballs swirling around everywhere at high speed.”

“How would they burn _if they're in space_?” Keith said.

“ _Or_ ,” Hunk cut in,, “what if it's just, like, _really_ smelly and the Galra's sensitive rodent noses can't take it so they just avoid it at all costs.”

“ _Ooh_ , that's a good one,” Lance said. “How about this, two words. Space. Lizards. GIANT space lizards.”

Keith’s palm hit his forehead with an audible _smack_. “That might be the dumbest thing you’ve ever said, which would be really impressive, considering all the dumb things you say.”

“You got anything better?!”

“Uh,” Keith answered elaborately. “I don't know, maybe it's something that's specifically anti-Galra, like a… chemical or something.”

“Aw, come on. Where's the imagination in that?” Lance said.

“You just asked if I had anything, not to get creative.”

“Whatever it is, it's gotta be something that can keep the Galra out, but isn't too bad for the Lemu people to deal with, since it's gonna be their new home and all,” Hunk said.

“Man, whatever it is, I hope it's an alright place,” Lance said.

Keith nodded, then remembered that the other paladins couldn’t see him. “Yeah, I can't imagine what they must be feeling right now,” he said.

“I hope they have oceans where they go. And bright skies with puffy clouds,” Lance said.

“And really tall mountains, with trees and grass,” Hunk added.

“And rivers and lakes! And cool caves they can explore.”

“And beaches and forests and… and plains and…” Hunk sniffled. “Sorry, guys, I'm just getting a little emotional here.”

“It's alright, Hunk,” Lance said softly, “we all miss it.”

Keith frowned, that weird feeling twisting in his stomach again.

“At least they'll have each other,” Lance went on. “Lots of them still have their families together. And they can make new families, too.”

“Man, you can’t just say stuff like that, Lance. You’re making me jealous of a group of aliens that literally just had their planet destroyed.”

“Sorry, man, I’m just… this mission is making me a little homesick, is all.”

“You’re always a little homesick, Lance,” Hunk said. “But I get it.”

Keith frowned as he suddenly felt a ringing start up in his ears. His eyes danced wildly looking for the source, but there was nothing.

“Hey, anyone else hear that?” Lance asked. “That ringing?”

Keith breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t just him. “I hear it, too,” he said.

“What do you think it is?” Hunk asked.

“I guess we’ll have to find out,” Keith said.

 

As it turned out, it wasn’t fireballs or bad smells or space lizards or chemicals that were keeping the Galra away from the Otyin planetary system, but rather the _noise_. There was something about the system itself that produced so much noise, and not exclusively sound noise at that, that even being near it for too long would probably drive someone insane. Not even the insulation inside the Lions could block it out. It had been ten minutes and Keith was already ready to quit, and they could hardly even see the place yet.

“ _This_ is the place they chose?” Keith asked.

“Somebody get Allura on the line so she can explain why _anybody_ would willingly choose to live here,” Lance said.

“I’m glad you asked, Lance,” Allura said, adding herself right into the conversation. “They were rather vague about the reason why Galra tend not to come near this place, but I’m sure you’ve all figured out by now that it has to do with Otyin’s resonance frequency.”

“Resonance what?” Lance said.

“Just keep explaining, Allura,” Keith said.

“It creates a very loud sound, as well as interrupts some of the frequently used communication channels, making it rather unappealing to the Galra. However, the Lemu people, you’d know if you paid any attention to the briefing, are deaf. Their means of communication does not require any sound or even transmissions to be effective, making Otyin’s noise a non-issue.”

“So how much longer until the sound makes us go crazy?” Keith asked.

“Oh, at this distance I would say you could last for a few days. But once we get closer we’ll likely have to keep it brief. We should be close enough in the next couple of hours, so I’ll go ahead and contact the Lemu leaders with our farewell. Our transmissions shouldn't be affected by the resonance frequency, but if it is, I'll send Shiro out to retrieve you all once we've taken the Lemu close enough.”

“Got it,” Lance and Keith said at the same time, which was awkward for the split second before Hunk also said “got it.”

“Great. Let's wrap this up, paladins!”

 

Keith had once thought there was no sound in space, but the longer he was stuck out in the middle of it the more he realized he didn't know jack shit. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was about the quality of Otyin’s sound that made him want to claw his face off, but the desire was strong enough that he had to close the front of his helmet to stave off the temptation. And it did, in fact only manage to get more horrible the closer they got. Somehow Keith didn’t snap, but it was close.

Keith was the first one to return to the castle-ship, once their job was done, and he only barely managed to force himself not to go immediately to his room to try to sleep off his migraine, and instead go to the Bridge for the inevitable wrap-up meeting. The terrible sound was long gone by then, but the ghost of it was still ringing in Keith’s ears. He hoped Shiro would be brief.

Lance was the last one to the Bridge, not very surprisingly, waving meekly as he saw everyone waiting on him.

“Now that we’re all here, I’d like to start by saying great work to everyone,” Shiro said. “That was one of our smoothest missions yet, though I know we’re all drained from it. Get some rest these next few days. We don’t have any new missions coming up yet, so when something does arise we all need to be ready to go.”

“No new missions? That’s music to my ears,” Lance said, folding his arms above his head.

“Is that all?” Pidge asked, yawning. “I’d love to go back to bed, now that my ears aren’t bleeding anymore.”

Shiro chuckled. “Yeah, that’s it. Do your best to get back on the regular sleep cycle again, everyone.”

At that, the team dispersed, everyone heading to their own rooms for some rest, by the looks of it. Keith massaged his temples as he trudged out of the room, freezing when a hand caught him by the shoulder—and very consciously _not_ reeling on them to go for a kidney shot. Keith looked up to see Shiro smiling down warmly at him.

“That was a good call you made, Keith. This mission couldn’t have been successful without you,” he said.

Keith averted his eyes. “Don’t mention it,” he replied.

Shiro sent him off with a pat on the back and Keith made his way back to his bed as quickly as he could manage with his headache, eager to make up for lost time.

 

It had been a few days since the escort mission and things were more or less back to their regular flow. The team had most meals together, Allura made sure nobody was slacking off for too long, Coran tried to wrangle everyone into doing chores, Shiro did responsible team leader things, Lance was useless, Pidge and Hunk did science or something, and Keith spent all his time in the training room trying not to think about anything. Despite the normality of their routine, however, Keith could sense that something was off. The others didn’t seem to be as talkative as usual, and there were no real group hangouts aside from lunch and dinner. He knew his own reasons for acting more aloof than normal, of course, but he doubted the rest of the team was also facing a possible alien identity crisis, and he wasn’t really good enough at reading people to know what else it could be, so he ignored it as well as he could.

In the meantime, Keith was doing his damndest to avoid Shiro and Coran at all costs, Shiro because he still wasn’t over the incident in the training room the other day and Coran because he feared he was probably suspicious after his Galra question. Which meant Keith was basically holed up in his room all the time, whenever he wasn’t getting the shit beat out of him by the level 5 gladiator.

Now Keith would definitely consider himself an introvert. He liked being alone, hated parties, and couldn’t stay in a room full of people for too long without needing to recharge. But there came a time when even the most introverted of introverts started to go a little stir crazy, and by the third day of confining himself to the training deck and his room and not talking to anyone, he was starting to reach that point.

He found Lance alone in the common room, taking up half of the couch with his arms and legs sprawled out around him, staring at the ceiling. Keith stood over his head, leaning over so he could give him a weirded out expression.

“What are you doing?” Keith asked

Lance frowned. “Waiting for somebody to show up so I can freaking _talk_ to someone for once. Didn’t expect it to be the village recluse, though. Don’t you have some social interactions to be hiding from?”

“Okay, cockmunch, I’ll go back to my room if you’re gonna be like that,” Keith said, turning around.

“Wait!” Lance said, grabbing him by the ankle before he could start walking away. “I, uh, sorry I just get a little cranky when I’m alone for too long. Seems like everyone’s been avoiding each other for the past couple days.”

“Not that I would know.”

Lance snorted. “Too busy being part of the problem, eh Mullet.”

Keith settled himself on the floor with his legs hanging over the back of the couch. “I was beginning to hope you’d stopped using that nickname for good,” Keith said, the corner of his mouth twitching up for a second before he could stop it.

“Well I keep trying to guess your real name and you keep saying it’s wrong, so I chose the one that you can’t deny, instead.”

Keith scrunched his nose. “I think I like it better when you just get my name wrong.”

“Well we could fix all of this if you’d just tell me what your last name is, otherwise I’ll just keep guessing every Korean name I know until I get it right. And I once read a whole Wikipedia article on Korean last names, so this could go for a while.”

“Well I can’t help you there.”

“What?” Lance asked, sitting up a little bit.

“I mean I don’t know what my real name is. Like, I don’t remember it. I was only four when my dad disappeared or died or whatever. So when I went into foster care I just took the name of whatever family I was with at the time.”

“Really? Like, you never even heard your last name before that?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I mean _probably_ , but I don’t remember it. I feel like I’d know it if I heard it, though.”

“So in that case I should just keep guessing your name until we figure out what it is,” Lance decided.

“Uh, or you could just call me Keith, like a normal person.”

“No can do, Kim, we’re figuring this out together.”

“Not my name.”

“Kwon?”

“Nope.”

“Ryu.”

“No.”

“Song?”

“Stop.”

“I’m gonna get this just you wait.”

“I won’t hold my breath.”

Lance sighed and settled back, laying on the couch with his hands behind his head, fixing his gaze on the ceiling again. Keith leaned back on his arms and stared up, too. It was a pretty boring ceiling, considering. There were a couple of blue lights up there, but that was pretty consistent with the rest of the castle ship, and he’d been there long enough that the wonders of Altean architecture did little to impress him anymore.

“How many months has it been since we left do you think?” Lance asked. “ Has it been a year yet? I stopped counting after day 80.”

It took Keith a second to realize Lance was talking about Earth. He looked back down to see Lance was still looking at the ceiling above. “Not sure,” he replied.

“I wonder what my family is doing right now,” Lance said. “Do you think time passes the same way out here as it does back there?”

“You’d have to ask Allura. Or maybe Coran.” Honestly, Keith hadn’t even thought about that possibility before. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.

“What if it’s been like a year out here but it’s only been like three weeks back on Earth? Or what if it’s been three _years_? My mom would definitely kill me.”

Keith’s lips pressed into a hard line as he tried to figure out how to respond.

It wasn’t that he didn’t miss Earth. There were plenty of things about it that he wished he could see again. The sun, the moon, the mountains, the trees. It was just that, unlike the rest of the team, there was no one waiting for him on Earth. He didn’t have the same attachment that the others seemed to have. Especially after Shiro left, and the Garrison booted him, there’d been nothing left for him back there.

But then with Voltron—honestly, Voltron was the best thing to ever happen to him. It gave him a family, one that _had_ to stick together and support each other, that would never try to leave and couldn’t be taken away from him. Voltron was the closest thing to an actual family that he’d ever had. Being with everyone here let him forget about all of the things he never had back on Earth.

So then whenever anyone brought it up, it was like rubbing salt in an old wound, reminding Keith that they still had _real_ families waiting for them back home. He was just an outsider, destined to never fit in quite right, even with the entire universe at his fingertips.

His fingers itched for his speeder. It was times like this he would normally go out, pick a direction and just drive, but he couldn’t exactly just take piece of the universe’s most powerful weapon out for a spin every time he needed to clear his head. The risk was too high that he just… wouldn’t come back.

“Uh, Keith? You alright?” Lance asked, waving his hand in front of Keith’s eyes.

Keith blinked a couple times and turned his head back to Lance.  “Sorry, yeah. Just zoning out.”

“It’s a good thing we don’t have a mission coming up anytime soon. I don’t think we could even form Voltron with everyone being so stuck in their heads like this,” Lance said, huffing. “I could barely get a word out of Hunk yesterday.”

Keith shook his head. “Whatever it is, it’ll pass. Just give it a couple days.”

“Yeah, sure…”

 

It didn't pass. But it did, somehow, manage to get worse. Keith, satisfied with his human interaction for the week, had returned to his previous reclusive and somewhat self-destructive behaviors, only seeing the other paladins for dinner where he hardly spoke, partly because nobody else was talking either.

It was even quieter than it had been the past few days that evening. Keith looked around the table, noticing how everyone basically had their nose in their food and Lance looked a little bit like he wanted to explode but didn't have the balls to go through with it.

It was actually Pidge that broke the silence, not looking up as they spoke softly, “So, it's been 8 months. When do we get to go back and visit Earth?”

Everyone turned to them at the same time, mostly in surprise, some in confusion.

“8 months,” Lance mumbled. “I can't believe it.”

“We don't have any missions coming up now, right? So why don't we just… go back?” Pidge continued.

Allura set her spoon down beside her plate. “I'm afraid it isn't that simple. I know you know this, Pidge. Even with a break in missions, we don't have much time for a vacation. If there's another big event somewhere and you're all spread across Earth, it could mean lives lost. And with way Zarkon has been able to track us in past, it could put Earth at risk, as well.  ”

“I _know_ , it just… My mother lost her son and my dad already, and now she thinks she's lost me, too. I just want to be able to tell her I'm still here before…” Before Earth became the next Lemue, Keith guessed.

“I know it's hard for you, but just think—”

“I wanna go back, too,” Hunk said, hands clenched into fists on the table. “I'm sorry, Allura, it's just—I just want to see my _family_ again.”

Keith grit his teeth. His knuckles went white as he clenched the edge of the table.

“We all have families that are missing us, Hunk,” Shiro responded this time, shooting sparks down Keith's spine. “It's just not quite as easy as—Keith? Where are you going?”

Keith was out the door, speeding down the first hall he got to and not stopping. He kept going, turning down random hallways until he was at the observation deck on the other side of the ship, next to the Bridge. He slammed his palm against the panel and brushed his way inside before the door could open all the way, crossing the room and hitting another panel that un-tinted the glass of the window. His knees buckled under him and he sat, starting out the window as it slowly revealed the starscape outside.

He really hadn't meant to make such a dramatic exit, but he couldn't take another second of it. He couldn't tell what he was feeling. It wasn't _angry,_ but it wasn't _sad_ , it was just _a lot._ He groaned, throwing his head back and rubbing his eyes with his palms.

He jumped when the door opened a minute later, revealing Lance in the doorway. Keith hadn't realized he'd been followed.

“There you are! I thought I'd lost you for a second there. What was that all about?” Lance said upon entering, door shutting behind him.

Keith answered with a glare that he hoped conveyed, _Take a wild fucking guess, buddy._

It seemed to occur to Lance very suddenly that Keith might actually be upset about something. He crossed over to Keith and knelt down, eyebrows raised in concern. “Are you okay?”

“Fucking peachy, Lance,” Keith gritted out.

Lance sat down all the way, back against the wall, and hesitantly set a hand on Keith's shoulder. Keith frowned but didn't try to shake him off. “Was it… the family thing?”

“The hell do you care,” Keith muttered, turning away.

“I'm just _trying_ to be helpful!” Lance yelled, throwing his hands up. “Obviously I'm shit at it, but it's no worse than you bottling up whatever teenage angst fest you're throwing yourself and launching a chair across the room before running off, so I'd say that puts us on even ground!” Lance settled back a second later and sighed. “Look, if it's something you can talk out… I'll listen. You don't have to close yourself off like this.”

Keith snorted. “Like I'm not already the outsider here.”

“Uh, no? You're not. We're all part of a team, here, but when you—”

“I’m not like you! There's nothing _left_ for me on Earth, okay?” Keith bit out. “Hell, sometimes I don't even know if there's anything _out there_ for me at all!”

“Keith…”

“But I have _this_ ,” he went on. “I have Red and I have Voltron and I have the team but I just… You all have families and friends and lives back on Earth. And maybe when this is all over you'll go back to them and you'll pick up where you left off but this,” he threw his arms out, gesturing all around him, “this is all I've got. You guys are like my only family. And it's _enough_ for me but… I'm just _me_. I can't—I'm not enough for—”

Lance cut him off with a kiss.

He pulled away too soon, like he was just as surprised Keith was that he did it. “I'm sorry!” he blurted out. “I don't know what I was thinking, I'm sorry, I know, that you were still taking and people don't actually like it when you interrupt them with your _face_ but,” he sighed. “I couldn't just let you finish that, okay? You're enough, Keith. Don't ever say that you're not. You're enough. It’s enough.”

Keith stared at Lance wide-eyed for about three seconds before he grabbed him by the collar and yanked him forward, crushing their lips together again.

 

It was sloppy, and there was too much teeth, but Keith was feeling about eleven more emotions than he was used to feeling and right then, in that moment, kissing Lance was the only thing that made sense to him.

Lance pulled away after a moment. “Okay. Okay, this is really happening,” he breathed. “I'm kissing Keith Gyeong.”

“Shut the _fuck_ up.” Keith grabbed Lance by the back of his head and lurched forward again. They eventually fell into a rhythm, slower and kind of hotter than before, Keith had to admit. He was settled over Lance with one leg dangerously between his thighs. If he just moved forward another inch…

Keith _moaned_ when one of Lance’s hands tangled in his hair, which Lance obviously was not prepared for when he froze for a second after.

“I didn't take you for the noisy type,” Lance said, smirking and prompting a glare from Keith.

“I didn't take you for the type that gets a boner after just a couple minutes of kissing, either, but we all have lapses in judgement sometimes,” Keith said, rolling his hips so that his leg brushed against Lance's crotch.

Lance bit his lip, hand tightening in Keith's hair.  “Fuck you.”

“You wish,” Keith snorted, closing the space between them once again.  His free hand wandered down to Lance's hip, where he toyed with the hem of Lance's t-shirt. Lance let go of Keith's hair to rake his hands down his back, gripping Keith's ass and eliciting a gasp.

Lance seemed to like that, smiling against Keith's lips before trailing his mouth along Keith's jawline, nipping lightly as he went. Keith tilted his head back, opening up for more, but not without warning, “If you leave any marks I will shove my foot so far up your ass I will be kicking you in the face.”

“That's kinda kinky,” Lance said against his throat, sucking a little like he was considering taking Keith up on his offer.

“You're disgusting,” Keith replied, swinging his leg over so that he was fully straddling Lance.

Lance sucked in a breath at the contact, unable to keep from grinding into it. “You're… Intolerable,” he gritted back.

“That's a big word coming from you,” Keith said, slipping his hands up Lance's shirt across his abs.

Lance shuddered, sliding his hands up Keith's back but stopping halfway. “Maybe we should stop—”

“—go to your room,” Keith finished at the same time.

“Oh.”

“You want to stop?”

“No. No!” Lance said, suddenly fumbling. “I just figured that you might want to—so I said it so you wouldn't feel—but then if you _don't_ want to then we can definitely go—I mean assuming you're not just—”

Lance struggled, cheeks going red and face falling into his hands, meanwhile Keith smirked. “So is that a _yes_ to getting out of here or…?”

“YES! Yes. It's a yes,” Lance said, then his eyebrows drew together “Wait, why does it have to be my room? Why can't it be yours?”

“Uh, your room is closer and I'm wearing skinny jeans.”

Lance glanced down at Keith's crotch and sure enough saw that he was not lying. “Alright, that's fair.”

They stood up together, barely managing to stumble out of the room between kissing and passively trying to trip each other.

But as they got outside the room, Keith stopped, looking down the hall. He thought he'd heard a sound.

“Keith?”

“What was that?” Keith said. “Did you hear something just now?”

“No? It's probably nothing important,” Lance said, starting to walk again.

Keith caught Lance by the wrist. “Hold the fuck up, I think I just heard my name.”

“What the hell? Really?”

“Shh!” Keith paused to listen. “It's coming from the Bridge. Come on.”

Keith sped to the next door down, running inside and looking around wildly at the screens. There was an open audio line at Pidge's station where the sound was coming from.

“Lance! Keith! Hunk? Anyone, please!” the line hissed. There was so much static and feedback that Keith could hardly understand the person on the other line but he’d recognize that accent anywhere.

“Solom!? It's Keith, can you hear me?” he yelled, hoping the mic was turned on since he couldn't read enough Altean to do it himself.

“Keith! Oh thank th’ heavens. Keith, ye hafta help us. Ye hafta come back ta Azul.”

“What? What's going on?”

“Axar. He found me. He found the colony.”

Keith's heart plummeted into his stomach. “No…”

“Your old command unit?!” Lance yelled. “How?!”

“S’no time to explain all that!” Solom hissed. “They's goin’ ta collapse th’ tunnels, lad. He’s goin’ ta kill us all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haaaahhhh.....  
> You guys like cliffhangers, right?
> 
>  
> 
> [illustration](https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/160555440653/please-let-them-kiss-heads-i-win-tails-you-lose)  
> [and a sketch](https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/160554153473/keith-get-back-here-dont-go-flying-into-strange)
> 
>  
> 
> Gonna go ahead and put a BIG old warning in here, next chapter is where the Graphic Depictions of Violence and body horror tags really come in. I'll put in the notes the section where the bulk of it is, but there's not really a good way to avoid the section entirely without missing story points. PLEASE be careful if you're squeamish around those types of things!
> 
> See you next Thursday! (and feel free to yell at me on tumblr if you want, @sexythewalkingcatfish )


	5. Zabit Sa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team returns to Azul to try to save the exiles before it's too late.  
> **graphic depictions of violence**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'ALL WE MADE IT TO 100 KUDOS AND 1000 HITS!! THANKS SO MUCH I'M SO HAPPY
> 
> Here it is. The long awaited Chapter 5. And a little more Lance POV toward the end!
> 
> *****BIG OLD CHAPTER WARNINGS*****  
> Graphic depictions of violence, eye injury, hand injury, body horror  
> There is not an easy way to avoid this without missing information relevant to the story, but I'll still tell you the section that contains the worst of it. It starts at "Keith righted himself quickly and ran in again..." but it's pretty much over by “No, we have to make sure the prisoners get off." It's a pretty big chunk so please be careful!!

“Okay. Shit. Okay, we have to get back to Azu— _ oh _ ,” Lance said, clutching his head. 

Keith groaned. “The potion. We  _ can't  _ go back, we—”

“Aye, but th’ resta ye crew didn't hafta drink it. An’ neither did I.”

“Keith, where's the alarm? We have to get the others in here,” Lance said.

“Why the hell would I know? Can't we just call them?” Keith said. 

“Well  _ something _ tells me that if we tried to explain that our alien friend needs to tell everyone about the location of a secret planet we swore to never speak of again, our brains might just split in half, so I figured  _ pressing a button _ would be significantly less risky,” Lance spat.

“Fuck, okay, I'm looking. I think I might know,” Keith said, going for the main console.

He found what he assumed to be the alarm button and reached out to it, stopping when a shock of pain pulsed through his head and down his arm. “ _ Really _ ?” he growled. “Some stupid promise… is gonna stop me from pressing… a  _ fucking button _ .”

“Not if I can help it,” Lance said, coming up from behind and slamming Keith's hand the rest of the way down in a full-body tackle. The alarm started as Keith collapsed, vision blurring. 

“How the fuck did you do that?” he asked, groaning.

But Lance was unconscious behind him. It dawned on Keith that he'd probably passed out as he was running, but as luck would have it, he happened to collide with Keith just right so that he could hit the alarm, in a typical Lance fashion. Keith chuckled for a moment before he whited out.

 

Keith was surrounded by watery voices when he came to. He opened his eyes and barely made out figures standing around him. 

“He's waking up!” someone said. 

“Thank goodness, I was afraid we'd need to get them into the healing pods,” someone else responded. 

Keith blinked a couple of times as his vision began to clear. Hunk, Pidge, and Allura were all crouched above him, Hunk waving something at him like a fan and Allura holding a hand up to his forehead.

“Did you guys… talk to Solom?” Keith asked, voice raspy.

Pidge nodded. “Turns out he was able to contact us using those helmets you left back there and jury rigging something to amplify the signal so it would reach us.”

Keith nodded, even though he could only process about half of those words. “You'll… you'll help them, right?” he whispered. 

“Of course we will, Keith,” Allura said. “Any friend of yours is a friend of Voltron. And it must have meant a lot to you if you tried to go against a promise spell.”

“Did Keith wake up, too?” Shiro asked, walking up from behind Pidge. He smiled in relief when he saw Keith laying on the ground with his eyes open. “Great. We need to get moving as quickly as possible so that we can assess the situation. According to what Solom told us, it looks like we may need to split into two teams, one search and one rescue. The Azulan leaders were taken aboard Axar’s ship to be transported to face further punishment in front of Zarkon. I'm afraid it's too late for us to stop them from collapsing the tunnels, but Solom had reason to believe that the ship would stay in the area to send out searches for other surviving exiles.”

Keith tried to sit up but Hunk held him down. “Give it a few minutes, okay?” he said, smiling softly. “I promise the ship can prepare for a warp jump without you standing up for it.”

“Can I at least sit?” Keith grumbled, trying again to sit up and succeeding this time with Hunk’s help.

“How are you feeling? Any dizziness? Aches or pains? Numbness?” Allura asked.

Keith shook his head. “My elbows kinda hurt from where I fell but the headache is pretty much gone.”

“In that case, let’s get going,” Shiro said. “Take five to reorient yourself, then suit up as soon as you’re feeling ready. You too, Lance.”

Keith nodded. “Roger that.”

 

There were droid ships everywhere when they got to the Vynyx, searching every planet and moon for other pockets of surviving exiles, though as far as Keith knew, the colony on Azul was the only one. The main ship was stationed near Azul, on the far side of the planet. The castle-ship had warped in far enough away that they wouldn’t be noticed immediately, but their time was likely limited, so they would have to assess the situation quickly.

Everyone was standing around on the Bridge, waiting for Shiro to make the call. 

“Okay, so there’s no way we’re going into this unseen. So here’s the plan. Since Pidge and I are the only ones that can get to the colony, we’re on search. Pidge, I want you to go in, find and gather any survivors. Allura should be able to tell you how to do that with the tunnels collapsed. I’ll provide cover in the meantime. That leaves Hunk, Keith, and Lance to rescue. Axar’s ship appears to have the same basic setup as any other command ship. I need you three to find where the Azulans have been taken and get them out of there as quickly as you can.  In the meantime, Allura and Coran will provide backup.”

The team nodded, each starting to head for their respective lions.

“Wait,” Keith said, grabbing onto Lance and Hunk. “We have to be smart about this. It would be dangerous for us to leave our lions unattended on a Galra ship while we look for the Azulans. I think it’d be best if we consolidate.” 

“So what, are we carpooling over there?” Lance said as though he didn’t think Keith was being serious.

“I think ‘lionpooling’ is the better term,” Hunk said. “So who’s gonna drive, then? Keith, you’re the best pilot.”

Lance had the nerve to look indignant. “Uh, excuse me? I think you mispronounced Lance. Red is so tiny I don’t even think we’ll all fit.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Hunk, why don’t we take Yellow? She’s got the best defense, and I’m pretty sure you can just literally ram her into the side of the ship to get us in.”

Now Lance was pouting. Keith almost thought it was cute.

“Sure, sounds like a plan,” Hunk agreed.

They made their way down to Yellow’s docking bay, updating Shiro and Allura with their plans, then launched themselves into the Vynyx.

 

When Yellow’s head smashed through the hull of the Galran command ship, it seemed that it hadn’t quite caught on that Voltron was there, what with how spread out the fleet was. There had been next to no ships in the surrounding space, and hardly any encounters. It seemed that the element of surprise had worked in their favor after all.

“I’m going to let you two out here and stay with Yellow,” Hunk said as they prepared to disembark. “I can’t just leave her out here defenseless. Plus you guys will need a ride ready for you when you get back.”

“Are you sure?” Keith asked.

“Of course I’m sure. The Azulans know you guys better anyway. Keep me updated on your location. I can crash in somewhere else if I need to.”

Lance gave him a pat on the back. “Thanks, bud.”

“You guys be careful out there!” Hunk called as they leapt down from Yellow’s mouth. Keith nodded before running off in the direction that Pidge’s map said the prisoners were most likely to be kept.

They ran into a few drones and guards along the way but they took care of them quickly, though toward the end they could tell that word had gotten out about Voltron's arrival as the number of soldiers increased. They still managed to slash and blast their way to the brig in just a few minutes. 

“Where are they?” Lance said when they got there. “All these cells are empty.”

“Shit, well where else could they be?” Keith said. 

“Is there a directory somewhere we can follow?” Lance asked. 

“There just might be,” Keith said, pointing in front of him. “Sign at the end of the hall. I'm pulling up Pidge's on sight translation.”

He ran forward, touching some buttons on the panel on his arm and waiting for the software to work its magic. Lance was right behind him.

“Containment room?” Keith read as the translation popped up on his visor.

“Think that could be it?” Lance asked. 

“Only one way to find out.”

They charged down the next hall until they got to a closed door with a single, tiny window at the end. Keith leaned up to peer through. 

“Do you see anything?” Lance asked from beside him. 

“It's dark. Kind of hard to say. I'll try switching to infrared.”

It was hazy, but Keith could make out three somewhat body-shaped blobs through the tiny window. 

“It's gotta be them,” Keith said, leaning back.

“But how do we get to them?” Lance asked. There was no panel along the wall to open the door, and the hallway leading up had had no branches.

“Uh, try blasting it,” Keith said. 

Lance summoned his bayard and shot the door, narrowly managing to twist out of the way when the beam was reflected. 

“Well, that didn't work.”

“Maybe Hunk could smash his face in there?” Lance suggested. 

“And kill all the people we're trying to save? I'll pass.” Keith opened a comm channel back to the castle ship. “Allura, we found the prisoners but they're in something called a containment room and we can't get the door open. Any idea what to do about that?”

“Stand by, I think I can get you a map to central command,” Allura replied promptly. “And… Done. Go there and you should be able to open the door using the main panel.”

“Keith, we've got company,” Lance said. 

“Uh, can you update Hunk with the plan and our coordinates? We're about to get a little busy,” Keith said, drawing his bayard as a crowd of drones started swarming in from the hallway. 

“Already on it. Be careful.”

Keith ended the transmission and charged forward, Lance hanging back to cover him. They managed to get through, leaving behind a sparking pile of metal, but Keith was starting to get tired. He wouldn't let that stop him, though, pulling up his updated map and running toward central command at the opposite end of the ship. 

After leaving behind more bodies than he cared to think about in the seemingly endless halls of the ship, Keith finally  saw the door to central command. Or at least he was pretty sure he did, since it wasn’t labelled. But the fifteen or so soldiers stationed around it gave him a hint.

“I think we found it,” Lance said. “There’s a lot of guys there. Think we should come up with some sort of strategy before running in, guns blazing?”

“Nope,” Keith said, running in, guns blazing. 

He channeled every second he’d spent fighting robots in the training room, falling into some kind of flow state as his body basically moved on its own. His sword sunk through the torso of one droid and he used his momentum to sling it against another, knocking them both down. Meanwhile, Lance the sniper shot down three more bodies, clearing a hole to the door.

“Come on!” Keith yelled, slicing off the arm of another droid so that he could open the door. Lance sprinted through it as he opened it, Keith right on his tail, then continued firing at the droids outside until Keith could get the door closed. Lance shot the control panel to keep it from opening again then used his blaster to heat seal the edges of the door together while Keith took in their surroundings.

They were, indeed, in the central command room, and they weren’t alone, a handful of shocked Galra standing as they tried to figure out what to do with two paladins suddenly in their space. But to Keith’s surprise, the commander didn’t appear to be present, none of the Galra wearing the telltale red and black armor.

The Galran woman nearest them was the first to attack, pulling out a small laser gun which Keith easily deflected with his shield. Lance knocked her out with a shot to the side, meanwhile a Galran man on the other side of the room tried the same tactic as the woman had with similar tact.

“Do these guys not have protocol for this?” Lance asked as he knocked the man over with a shot to the chest. “They’re like deer in headlights.”

“Maybe they don’t have the coding for it,” Keith said, making his way to the control panel, confident that Lance wouldn’t let the other two Galra left shoot him in the meantime.

His fingers hovered over the dash, trying to make sense of the letters floating around on the screen. His on-sight translator was wildly trying to keep up with the changing letters, but even that wouldn't do much for the unlabeled buttons on the panel in front of him. 

“What are you doing?! We have to hurry, I think that last guy called in reinforcements before I could knock him out,” Lance hissed.

“You think you can do this any faster?!” Keith bit back. “Fuck, what do we do?”

“Allura isn't answering,” Lance said. “Come on, just do  _ something _ !”

Keith wracked his brain, like the was something in there that would suddenly make him able to read Galran, the mess of English letters over it only making it harder to focus. “Dammit!” Keith yelled, tearing off his helmet.

It was like he was suddenly watching the pieces of a puzzle fall into place, a rubix cube getting scrambled in reverse. His fingers started flying over keys and bringing up screens—text boxes, data charts,  _ live footage from inside the containment room _ —until he pulled up a window that he was almost certain said “door opened”.

Lance's jaw was on the floor. “What the _ hell did you just do _ ?” he said.

“Now is really not the time to discuss it,” Keith said, picking up his helmet and turning toward the door. 

He stopped in his tracks as the screeching sound of tearing metal filled his ears, the head of a blade being driven through the sealed door. Over and over and over.

The doors were pried apart by a clawed hand and the head of an axe, and in walked the Galran commander, body towering over the two paladins as he walked forward, slowly and deliberately.

“When they told me that the Paladins of Voltron had broken into my ship to rescue the imprisoned exiles I laughed in their faces,” he said, voice like the sound of a box of stones being shaken. “But now here I stand, and I must say I am truly humbled.” He had two ridges on the top of his skull and two horns protruding from his jaw. His skin was smooth and hairless, ears long and pointed. “That I, Commander Axar, will go down as the one who captured Voltron in the name of our good emperor, I am truly honored.”

His left arm was all Galra tech, the broad head of an axe in place where his hand should have been. As he stalked forward purple veins started to flow through it and Keith was frozen in place, inexplicable fear clenching his heart and dragging it down to his stomach. It was just like that night in the training room with Shiro, only much, much worse.

Axar’s blade rose above Keith’s head and he could only watch as it started to come down on him.

It happened in slow motion. First, the blade started to fall, veins blurring with the motion. Then Lance was yelling Keith’s name, and a split second later he was being tackled, the swing of the axe missing Keith but crashing down on the back of Lance’s suit as they both fell to the floor.

“Lance!?” Keith yelled. “Lance! Are you alright?” He shook his head suddenly regaining his bearings just in time to roll away from another swing that would have cost him his head.

He scrambled up to his feet, summoning his bayard and standing defensively. Lance was on the ground between him and Axar, not moving, but still breathing. Axar was grinning.

“I thought the Paladins of Voltron would put up more of a fight!” he laughed. “To take out dozens of my men then tremble at the sight of me! Is it a testament to their weakness or my greatness?”

Keith  _ growled _ at his words, irritated by his ego almost as much as he was irritated at himself for getting caught off guard like that. But there was no time for self-pity. He needed to get Axar away from Lance.

He dashed sideways and rolled, swinging his sword out to slash at Axar’s feet. The hit didn’t really land, but he managed to angle Axar away from Lance, which was what he really wanted. Axar responded with a heavy swing that would have taken off Keith’s arm were it not for his speed. He may have been a hard hitter, but Keith was faster. 

Keith charged forward again, barely dodging a swing toward his abdomen and managing to get in a slash across Axar’s hand. Axar yelled, using his bloodied hand to send Keith flying across the room, landing heavily on his side. Right. Super Galra strength was a thing.

“You Paladins really are the universe’s greatest pest,” Axar rumbled, lumbering forward with heavy steps.

Keith righted himself quickly and ran in again, never one to learn his lesson the first time, this time dodging under Axar’s swing to hit him from the back. Axar reeled around on him, though, striking Keith’s face with the curved tip of the blade.

Keith screamed, stumbling backwards, hand going over his eye.  _ He couldn’t see _ .

“Voltron scum,” Axar spat. “ _ Khlatchat Sa! _ ”

Keith fell to his knees, hands on the ground in front of him, unsure of what had just happened. He glared up at Axar, trying desperately to stand, but no matter what he did he couldn’t will himself to get up. Why couldn't he stand up?!

Axar was wide-eyed and smiling. “This day just keeps getting better,” he said. “ _ Stuhpvit Sa! _ ” he yelled, and Keith was standing again. Axar shook his head, smile widening. “Amazing. A  _ mongrel _ is a Paladin of Voltron.”

“What the _ hell _ did you just call me?!” Keith shouted, slashing forward again, cutting through part of Axar’s armor, but not deep enough to cause real damage.

“ _ Khlachat Sa _ , halfling cur,” Axar snapped, prompting Keith to fall to his knees again. Axar’s smile returned. “Judging by your reaction this must be news to you. Tell me, what’s it like to learn that the blood that you’ve sworn to hate is running through your veins?”

“Shut up! I’m not like you,” Keith growled.

“You’re right,” Axar sneered. “You’re the spawn of some divergent scum. The result of tainted blood escaping rightful punishment.”

“They are not  _ tainted _ for valuing life!”

Axar clicked his tongue. “Ignorant mongrel. Valuing life is the root of all weakness. I'll prove it to you now. I'll hack your flesh into pulp.”

“Then do it!” Keith yelled. He knew that as long as he was on the ground, he was at Axar's mercy.

Axar let out a hearty laugh. “And where is the challenge in that! To kill you now would prove nothing. Children must learn their lessons through action! Now stand up and fight me like a  _ Galra  _ soldier!”

Keith grit his teeth as he pushed himself up with his fists, though everything in his body still screamed at him to stay down.

Axar's smile never left his face. He spread his arms wide. “Come. I'll even let you have the first hit.”

Keith was getting very tired of this guy’s attitude. He sprung forward, slashing downwards across Axar’s chest, but was deflected before he could cut deep. But Keith kept on hitting, dodging, hitting, getting knocked back, hitting, getting nowhere.

“You’re still not letting go!” Axar yelled. “Stop thinking and start fighting!”

Keith could feel it, this thing pulsing inside of him, begging to be let out. But he pushed it back, as though giving in to it would be letting Axar win. He could do this, he told himself. He could do it with his own skills. This was what he’d been training for.

But he was still getting nowhere, and Axar wasn’t even breaking a sweat, the expression on his face growing more and more smug as he watched Keith start to wear down.

“You are weak, Paladin,” Axar growled, deflecting another of Keith’s hits and kicking him back, but not enough to make him fall. They’d drifted back toward Lance again, which made Keith nervous. “You have such potential for greatness, and yet you decide to throw it away.”

Keith landed a vertical strike on Axar’s shoulder, making him yell out and punch Keith away. Keith landed heavily on the floor, the air knocked out of his lungs.

Axar stepped forward, blade raised and glowing. “Congratulations, Paladin, you’ve failed.”

His arm came down as Keith’s sword raised up. There was a screeching shatter as the head of his axe cleaved cleanly through the blade of Keith’s sword, and then further down, splitting Keith’s hand in half.

His bayard was destroyed.

His arm was split in two.

Keith screamed.

Axar was still smiling, lips curled over sharp teeth. “You should have given in, Paladin. Then maybe you could have won. But you are weak,” he said. “And now I have broken you.”

Keith was hunched over on the ground, clasping his hand together and trying to will the blood to stop.

“Keith…?” he heard Lance whisper, and his head whipped around to see Lance still sprawled on the floor, eyes open. “What are…”

Axar’s eyes lit up. “Oh, this is perfect,” he said, leading Keith to believe that it was anything but perfect. “The Blue Paladin has awoken just in time for the final act.” His head turned back down to Keith. “ _ Stuhpvit Sa _ , mongrel.”

Keith’s body stood, his eye watching Lance’s face twist in confusion.

“Keith, your…” Lance trailed off.

“How does it feel knowing that your fellow Paladin’s last moments will be of learning that you’ve been a monster all along?” Axar said.

“No. What are you saying? No!” Keith said.

Axar raised his hand and pointed at Lance. “ _ Zabit Sa.” _

_ Kill. _

_ “No!” _ Keith screamed, clenching his arms above his head even as his feet carried him over to Lance, falling to his knees next to him.

Lance was wide-eyed, obviously aware that something was wrong but unable to figure out what until Keith's hand was on his throat.

Lance's hands flew up, trying to pull his fingers away. “Keith,” he coughed out, “what is this?”

Keith shook his head. He thought he was crying.

“You don't have to do this, Keith… You can fight it.” But Keith's grip just grew tighter.

He didn't want this. He didn't want this! Why couldn't he stop? Why was he so  _ weak _ ?

“Please,” Lance mouthed. “We're… family…”

There was a moment of clarity, like a water drop that rang out across all of his senses, and suddenly he was free.

Keith snapped. A shout rose in his throat as he ripped his hand away as he reeled, staring down Axar's shocked face.

He charged, picking up the broken pieces of his bayard and in a brilliant flash of light it  _ transformed _ . A clawed gauntlet encased his left hand, glowing fingers like knives. He raked his claw down the front of Axar's armor, cutting through it like butter. Axar yelled, swinging his axe down but Keith caught him by the arm, squeezing until the metal began to crack. He then swung his leg around and kicked Axar in the stomach, sending him stumbling to the side.

Keith didn't give him a moment to recompose himself, bashing him in the head and making him fall to the ground. He stood over Axar’s body, one foot on his arm, holding him down, and the tips of his claws at Axar's neck.

“Any last words before I send your soul to rot in hell, purple-blooded scum?” Keith rumbled.

To Keith's surprise, Axar laughed. 

“Something funny?”

Axar kept laughing, shaking his head. “Seeing you there, it made me realize, I know who your mother is.”

Keith was unmoving above him, claw still hovering an inch from his neck.

“It was six seasons ago, a divergent escaped from my ship with a handful of prisoners being kept in the containment room,” Axar said, voice laced with contempt. “She and I fought then, too, only she was too weak. She didn't have the courage to take my life.”

“I'm not like her,” Keith said, tips of his claws pressing into Axar's skin.

“Prove to me your strength, Paladin. Prove you are more courageous than she was.” His smile only widened. “ _ Zabit Sa _ .”

Keith complied without hesitation.

As the tips of his claws slid out from Axar's neck, he stumbled backwards, the effects of his fight hitting him suddenly. His bayard reverted to its original form and clattered to the ground as his knees collapsed under him. 

“Keith!” Lance yelled, voice raspy and broken. He scrambled over and grabbed him by the shoulder. His eyes widened and his hand went over his mouth as he gagged at the sight of Keith's arm. “Fuck. You need a healing pod. Now.”

“No, we have to make sure the prisoners get off,” Keith said, shaking his head as he felt a strange dizziness begin to set in.

“Someone else can take care of the prisoners. I'm having someone come to us right now.”

Keith was still shaking his head when his body swayed, falling against Lance. “It's… we have to…”

“Hey, no, shh. It's gonna be okay, okay? Keith? Are you still with me? Keith? Keith!”

But the darkness was already setting in, and Keith was out.

  
  


“Fuck,” Lance hissed, Keith’s body falling limply against his. He turned on his radio. “Guys, we need some help up here stat. We defeated Axar but Keith needs a healing pod ten minutes ago and I need to get back to the containment room to get the prisoners.”

“Don’t worry about the prisoners, Lance, I’ll have Coran trace your steps and send me their location,” Hunk said. “You stay with Keith.”

“I’m on my way. Stay where you are,” Shiro said. “How bad is it?”

“I am honestly trying very hard not to throw up right now,” Lance said. For a multitude of reasons, though, not just Keith’s injuries.

“Give me thirty ticks.”

Twenty-nine ticks later Shiro was running into the command room, presumably after cutting a hole in the ship to stick his lion in.

“Ho-ly hell,” Shiro said, looking around the room, taking in Axar’s lifeless body and Keith and Lance huddled a few feet away, Keith still very unconscious. “What the hell happened in here,” he whispered, more a statement than a question.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Lance grunted.

“Help me carry him,” Shiro said, lifting Keith off of Lance, who quickly complied.

Black was waiting for them outside and they flew back to the castle ship faster than they’d ever flown before. Coran was there waiting for them to help get Keith to the healing pod as quickly as possible. Lance was worried that he’d lost a lot of blood, and seeing some of the injuries he’d sustained, he wasn’t entirely sure they were all fixable.

He and Shiro did their best to get him out of his paladin armor very carefully so that they could get him into the healing pod suit.

“Why is his blood… that color?” Shiro said hesitantly as he pulled the black fabric away from Keith’s body. It did seem to be darker than normal, Lance noticed.

He thought of Mekhas, the day that they found her in the storm, blood tinted dark indigo.

He shook the thought away.

“Might not be all his,” he said instead, trying not to think about the way the battle had ended.

As they finished undressing Keith, Coran came in. “I have the sensors,” he said, holding up a handful of metallic bands. The three of them attached the sensors on Keith’s body, around his arms, legs, and torso. Once in place, the healing pod suit started to materialize on his body by whatever Altean science-magic that Lance didn’t understand but didn’t care to question. Then they finally got him into a pod.

The three of them stood motionless in front of the pod, all unable to pull their eyes away from Keith.

“How long is it gonna take?” Lance asked.

Nobody answered for a minute. “It’s hard to say with his injuries,” Coran admitted. “It could just take a few days, or it could take weeks.”

Lance gulped. “But he’ll be okay, right?”

Shiro put his hand on Lance’s shoulder, squeezing lightly. “He’s a fighter, Lance. Something like this isn’t gonna keep him down,” he said.

Lance nodded. “Right. He’ll be fine.”

“I just got word from Hunk that he’s coming in with the prisoners,” Coran said, turning their attention back toward the mission. “Allura says that she wants everyone to come to the Yellow Lion’s deck.”

“Got it,” Shiro said, nodding, then paused. “Is there any word from Pidge?”

“Last I heard Number Five was still looking for survivors. They said not to worry, though. No ships in the area.”

Shiro sighed, but it was more out of frustration than relief. “Alright. Come on, Lance. Let’s go see about those prisoners.”

 

Hunk was helping the Azulans off of his lion as Lance and Shiro arrived. Allura was already there, standing rigid. Lance didn’t like the looks of it.

“They're…  _ Galra _ ,” Allura gasped.

She looked like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Lance froze behind her, gaze shifting between her and the Azulans. Shiro was equally still next to him.

Allura turned on her heels, coming eye-to-eye with Lance, something like rage burning in her stony expression. “Lance, a word.”

Lance felt like he'd just been called to the principal's office, only much worse.

He followed her a few meters away, leaving Shiro and Coran behind, both stunned. “What is this?” she demanded.

“I thought you knew,” Lance said. “You knew Solom was Galra.”

“And Solom said that the  _ Azulans _ were being attacked by the empire. Funny he didn’t mention that the Azulans all happen to be  _ Galra _ as well.”

“The Azulans aren’t associated with the empire. They were exiled. They’re all divergents.”

“I don’t care what they are! You’ve brought three Galra aboard my ship and you expect me to just  _ let that happen _ ? Have you forgotten how the Galra have  _ destroyed _ planets across the universe and killed countless people?”

“These people aren’t like that!”

“And how would you know? Did you ask them? Did they tell you that?”

“I know because they didn’t kill us the second they figured out we were Paladins. They wanted to be our allies.”

“They’re  _ Galra _ ! They lie!”

“They’re  _ people _ , Allura!”

Allura shut her mouth and crossed her arms. “…I want them off my ship.”

Lance’s eyes narrowed. “Then I’m sure we’ll all do our damndest to find them a new, safe place to go, as quickly as possible.”

Allura leveled her gaze and didn’t respond right away. “See to it that we do.”

Lance turned away from her without another word and crossed back over to the others. Hunk was introducing Khala, Sirth, and Crochus to Shiro and Coran, who seemed to be taking the whole situation much better than Allura was.

“Lance!” Khala called as she saw him turn around. She made a fist against her chest and bowed her head to him as he approached. “We cannot fully express our gratitude that the Paladins of Voltron could come to our aid. The exiles of Azul, if there are even any of us left, are eternally in your debt.”

Lance shook his head. “I just wish we could have prevented it from happening.”

Khala shook her head, straightening up. “Those circumstances were out of your control,” she said. Her eyes met with his and she tilted her head. “Where is Keith?” she asked.

Lance’s mouth went dry and he looked away. “I got knocked out while we were fighting Axar back on the control deck. He had to face him alone,” he said, not wishing to go into the details. “He's alive, but…”

“I’m sorry. Were it not for our capture, he may not have—”

“No, please, it had nothing to do with you,” Lance said. “I, uh, I think I’m gonna go back to see him now, though. I’m sure Shiro and Coran can help you guys set up.”

And with that he left, heading back for the med bay.

 

Shiro came by to check on him about half an hour later. Lance still hadn’t changed out of his paladin armor but he couldn’t be bothered to care.

“Hey, I just got word from Pidge that they’re on their way back,” he said, sitting on the floor next to Lance. 

“Were there any survivors?” Lance said, voice toneless.

Shiro paused and Lance wished he wouldn’t. “They searched for over an hour, but… almost all of the tunnels had collapsed. There’s only two, apparently not in good shape, either. Hunk and Coran said they’d handle them, though.”

Lance nodded slowly, not saying anything.

He and Shiro stared up at Keith’s healing pod in silence. Despite his injuries, his face was peaceful, scars already beginning to scab. His breathing was so slow it was barely there, a side-effect of being in the healing pod, Lance knew, but it still made him nervous.

“Are you ready to talk about what happened yet?” Shiro asked, after a while.

“I don’t think I’m ever gonna be ready,” Lance admitted.

Shiro was quiet while he thought of how to respond. “Maybe… start with the easy parts and we’ll go from there.”

Lance laughed once. “What easy parts?”

“Easi _ er _ parts, then.”

Lance twined his fingers together and held them against his chin. “The Azulans were being held behind a locked door so we had to go to central command to open it. Keith managed to hack into the system to unlock the door. I don’t know  _ how _ , he just, I—well I know  _ how _ but that’s not one of the easy things.”

“Okay, so you got the door open. What next?”

“That’s when Axar came in. He started walking toward us and Keith just froze up, staring at his metal arm. It was sort of glowing, like yours does when you fight,” Lance said. He looked down to see Shiro staring at the ground, eyebrows drawn together. He kept going. “He was about to get hit, so I had to knock him out of the way, but that ended up getting me knocked out. I don’t remember most of the battle. I just remember coming to, and…”

“And?”

“I think I’m out of easy parts.”

“What’s the hardest part, then?”

Lance’s eyes snapped closed, knees drawing up to his chest and head falling to rest on them. 

“Axar was saying these words,” Lance said at the ground. “And Keith was just… he couldn’t help it. It was like Axar was controlling him.” Lance shook his head. “It wasn’t his fault, it was just his  _ coding _ , it…”

Shiro sucked in a sharp breath, eyes meeting Lance’s.

“His  _ coding _ ? You don’t mean that…”

“…Keith is Galra,” Lance finished.

“Oh my god,” Shiro said, covering his face. He took a deep breath, hands tenting in front of his mouth. “And then what?”

“His bayard got broken.”

“ _ What? _ How could it have just—”

“I know. I didn’t think it was possible but it just… split. And Axar was still throwing those commands at him. He almost… did something really bad. But then he broke out of it somehow and that was when he sort of snapped. He picked up the pieces of the bayard and it all happened really fast but, like, it  _ changed _ and suddenly he had this claw  _ gauntlet _ thing he basically used to shred Axar to pieces.”

“ _ Changed, _ like what Zarkon did when he and Keith battled?”

Lance nodded.

“That’s—”

“Coming through!” Coran yelled, right in time to cut Shiro off. “We need to get these two into the healing pods prompto.”

With him were Hunk and the two Azulans that survived the tunnel collapse, a man who could barely stand holding a young girl. Lance’s eyes widened when he realized he recognized both of them.

“Solom? And Jeddhas?!” 

“Lance,” Solom said, eyes barely flashing in recognition. He was covered in scrapes and dust, arms clutching Jeddhas tightly. Jeddhas’s feet were dark and swollen, likely from being crushed in the tunnel collapse.

“You. Healing pod. Now,” Hunk said, ushering them toward a couple of pods opposite Keith’s. Solom complied without complaint, carefully putting Jeddhas down before stepping into his own, screen materializing and cutting him off from the outside.

There was a silence as everyone stared at each other, processing what had just happened.

“So that was Solom?” Shiro asked.

Lance nodded slowly in response. “Him and… and Jeddhas.”

“The girl?”

“Yeah, uh, she’s the daughter of that Galra that we… the one from the storm planet. She was a divergent.”

Shiro looked like he wanted to say something else, but he just sighed instead. “A story for another day, then.” He patted Lance’s shoulder then pulled his hand away. “You should change out of that armor, let the castle repair your jet pack and all.” He stood up and started to leave.

“Right,” Lance said, not moving.

Shiro turned back toward Lance, pausing. “He’s not gonna go anywhere in the time it’ll take you to change,” he said,  reaching out his hand to help Lance up. 

Lance took it and stood up, still hesitating in front of Keith’s pod.

“Come on,” Shiro said. “I’ll walk with you.”

Lance sighed, finally turning away from the pod. “Thanks, Shiro. Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God Bless Takashi. Whew i need a breather.
> 
> Illustration (plus a bonus I didn't include in the chapter since there's blood/injury in it) [here](https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/160808359573/sometimes-i-just-gotta-do-angst-ok-im-sorry)  
> [Axar](https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/160806707688/oh-look-another-alien-sketch-can-you-imagine-that) sketches (i swear i didn't mean to name him axar and give him a literal ax arm it was a total accident but as soon as i realized what i did it was too hilarious not to keep)
> 
> NOTICE: my summer just started, which means it is CON SEASON. Unfortunately for you guys, that means that next weekend i have my first con of the summer and I won't be able to update (anyone going to Momocon? :DD). But FEAR NOT, I will be back the next week on the first! Cross my heart ;)  
> yell at me in the meantime on tumblr [@sexythewalkingcatfish](http://sexythewalkingcatfish.tumblr.com/)


	6. Now I See Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith comes out of the healing pod earlier than expected, meanwhile the team tries to think of a safe space for the Azulans to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaaaaacckkk!! The past week has been HECTIC with con stuff but I really missed putting up the chapter last week. Hope the wait wasn't too bad! Now for some housekeeping.
> 
> ***Chapter Warnings*** body horror (no more fresh violence this chapter, but there is still mention and description of scars, hand injury, and eye injury)  
> Also it gets a lil sexy toward the end. If that's not your thing, you can skip the section from "Lance apparently wasn't having any of that" to "They were sitting on Keith's bed the next morning".
> 
> Solom also has some more speaking parts so I'll have the link to a more readable transcription inside the fic for anyone that needs it!

Keith vaguely remembered being carried off of the Galra ship, fleeting images of faces he had a hard time recognising. He didn’t remember being put in the healing pod, and he didn’t remember what he dreamed about beyond flickers and feelings. Purple skin, sharp teeth, two people in a small house, Axar’s smile, searing pain, emptiness.

He remembered waking up in the healing pod but being unable to move, like sleep paralysis. He could hear voices but he couldn’t open his eyes. He recognized Hunk and Shiro talking, though he couldn’t hear what about. Occasionally Pidge or Coran chimed in. 

He didn’t hear Allura or Lance.

It was a few minutes later when the pod released him. The glass cover opened and he could finally open his eyes. He blinked a few times to adjust to the light and steadied himself with both arms on either side of the opening as he got used to standing on his own again.

All conversation came to a halt. Everyone was staring at him; Hunk, Shiro, Pidge, Coran, and  _ Lance _ , who stood when he saw the pod was open.

“What are you looking at?” Keith said, voice gravely .

“ _ You.  _ You weren’t scheduled to come out for another couple of days at least,” Pidge said.

“What? How long was I in there?”

“Three days,” Coran answered. “With your wounds, we thought it could’ve taken weeks for you to heal, but…”

Keith scratched the back of his head. “Then what were you all doing in here?”

“Well, Lance hasn’t left the room since you got back, except for the time I made him get up to go shower, and I thought he might want some company and food so I came here to hang with him,” Hunk said. “Then Shiro and Pidge came by and we all started talking for a while and then Coran showed up and joined in and then you woke up and we were all very confused.”

“So how did I…” Keith trailed off when his eyes met with Lance’s.

“Your eye, it’s…” Lance said, stepping forward, reaching up to place his hand on Keith’s cheek.

“Whoa, Keith, your hand,” Hunk said.

Lance’s hand fell away as Keith looked down. The memories from the battle crashed down on him all at once, enough that he had to close his eyes and ground himself.

Lance pushing him out of the way when he froze up, taking the hit.

Axar, carving him like a piece of meat, commanding him to fall to his knees like it was nothing, confirming his worst fear.

And now his hand, split by jagged purple skin where Axar had cut him in half.

“What is this?” Keith mouthed.

“Why is it… purple?” Pidge said, staring at his hand. They looked up at his face and their eyes widened. “Oh my god, Keith.”

Keith’s eyes flicked around the room. Everyone was looking at him except for Shiro, whose gaze was downcast. Keith stepped out of the healing pod and turned to look at his reflection in the glass.

There was another ugly purple scar running from the bottom of his eyebrow down across his cheek, cutting straight through his eye along the way down the middle of his iris.

He remembered being hit by the axe. He remembered being blinded in one eye. But now he could see again and the scar in his eye was bright yellow.

Keith wanted to throw up. His hands clasped over his mouth as he curled in on himself. He felt a hand on his back the next second and looked over to see Lance hunched over beside him.

“How about I walk you back down to your room so you can get out of that suit,” Lance said. “It gets pretty uncomfortable if you don’t change out of it quickly. Clings to the skin.”

Keith nodded silently and Lance led him away from the others and down the hall to the rooms.

When they got to Keith’s room, Lance went inside with him. Keith’s clothes were folded on the bed but he ignored them, sitting down on the edge and staring at his hands hard enough to burn holes through them. After a moment, Lance sat down next to him.

“How long have you known?” Lance asked.

Keith looked up at the sound of his voice. His expression was concerned, not accusing.

“I didn’t join Voltron knowing that I was some half-alien freak if that’s what you’re asking,” Keith said.

Lance shook his head. “I trust that… if you’d known, you would have told us.”

Keith wrung his hands in his lap. “I knew when I kissed you.” Even if he hadn’t wanted to believe it.

Lance stiffened but he made no move to distance himself. “So is that what you were really upset about that night, then?”

“Part of it, yeah, I guess,” Keith admitted.

Lance bit down on his lip, one of his ticks when he felt uneasy. “Can I… see your hand again?” he asked.

Keith nodded and Lance took his hand from his lap and inspected it, touching it lightly.

“Feels the same,” he said. “Doesn’t even feel like a scar. Does it hurt?”

Keith shook his head.

“How far does it go?” Lance asked.

Keith reached up to the back of the suit and pulled down the zipper, slipping his arm out so they could both look. 

The scar went straight through his hand and halfway down his forearm, ending in a slight hook. Keith flexed his arm. Nothing about it felt different than normal, which was odd considering the condition he'd been in just a few days prior. He let Lance trace his fingers down the length of it, flipping his arm over to see how the scar nearly matched on both sides.

“So the reason you could do all of that crazy stuff before, was that the Galra thing?” Lance asked.

“I guess so,” Keith said.

“So when you hacked into the system, or when you beat down that battle drone. That was all just…”

“Coding,” Keith finished, a bitter taste in his mouth.

Lance shook his head. “You don’t have to say it like it’s a bad thing.”

“How is  _ any  _ of this not a bad thing?” Keith said, hands tightening into fists. “I'm one of  _ them _ , Lance. I'm not… I can't be…”

“You're not ‘one of them,’ okay? You're just Keith,” Lance said. “Besides, you and me both know that  _ they _ aren't all that bad.”

Keith unclenched his hands. Lance was still touching his arm. “Did the prisoners make it off?”

Lance nodded. “Allura wasn't too happy about them being Galra. Apparently Solom left that part out.”

Keith's stomach clenched. Did Allura know about him? Was that why she hadn't been there earlier?

“There were only two survivors from the colony, though. They're both still in the healing pods, so she's been avoiding the med bay,” Lance answered, without even knowing it. Keith hadn't even noticed that there were other medical pods in use when he'd woken up. “We're waiting for them to wake up before we make our next move. We need to find a place for them where they'll be safe from detection.”

Keith nodded. “Any idea where that could be?”

“Well, uh, I haven't exactly been in the loop lately, so…”

Right. He'd been with Keith for the past three days. Not much going on there.

“Did you… really stay out there that whole time?” Keith asked

“Yeah, of course,” Lance said, covering Keith's hand. “We're partners in all this, right?”

Keith felt his stomach flutter. Since when had “rivals” turned into “partners”?

“Besides, it's sort of my fault, how you ended up in there,” Lance said.

“Your fault?” Keith asked, looking up. “How is it your fault? Pretty sure you didn't hit me in the face with an axe.”

“But I was stupid and got myself knocked out so I couldn't help you fight him. You had to go at it all on your own.”

“Only because I froze!” Keith said. “If you hadn't knocked me out of the way I would have been worse than a little scarred up. You saved me, Lance.” 

Lance shook his head, but he didn't argue any further.

Instead his hand came up to Keith’s cheek again, thumb slowly brushing over the scar. “Does it feel different?”

“Does what feel different?”

“I don't know, everything?”

Keith leaned his face into Lance's hand, eyes falling shut. “Kinda, yeah.”

“Bad different?”

“Honestly, I don't really know.”

“What's changed?”

What  _ hadn't _ changed, honestly. Learning that Keith's mother was Galra completely turned Keith's sense of who he was on its head. Things that he'd always used to define himself were totally reframed, knowing that some of them were just from his Galra blood. His impulsiveness, his flying instinct, his quick reflexes, all of them were probably just pre-programmed into him, thrust upon him from some other Galra that needed it hundreds of years ago. It was like it wasn't really  _ him _ anymore.

“I guess now I'm just… not really sure where I end and the Galra begins,” Keith mumbled.

Lance drew his eyebrows together. “It's not like you have two different people living inside of you, Keith. So what if you have a few more instincts than the rest of us? It's like…” He studied Keith's face as he tried to decide what to say. “It's like you have generations of ancestors living inside your head, giving you advice when you need it. It's like having a part of your history inside of you, like family.”

Keith wasn't expecting Lance to say that. It was actually… comforting? Which meant Keith had absolutely no idea what to do with it, so he just started at Lance until the shock on his face wore off. Lance finally took his hand away from Keith's face, squeezing his shoulder before standing up.

“So anyway I'll, uh,” he cleared his throat, “let you change back now,” Lance said, averting his eyes awkwardly like he'd just realized Keith was sitting there halfway out of the healing suit. “The other Azulans are set to come out of the pods in the next couple days, so I'm gonna keep hanging out in there, in case you want… Uh, I think Khala and the others are going to start hanging around there too if you wanted to talk to them. Or avoid them, or whatever.”

Keith nodded once. “Alright. And, ah, thanks. For sticking by me.”

Lance smiled the slightest bit. “Anytime.”

 

Keith avoided talking to, or even seeing for that matter, anyone else until that night, when he went down to the med bay to see if someone was around. But it looked like Lance had stepped out, or was already in bed, and the other Azulans weren't there either. 

The room was dark, ship having already switched over to the night cycle. He walked over to examine the people in the pods, breath catching on his throat when he recognized them.

Solom and Jeddhas looked peaceful, eyes closed, limbs loose. Most of their injuries seemed to be healed or almost-healed. Keith felt something twist in his stomach when he realized that, despite also being hurt pretty seriously, he’d still gotten out of his healing pod before them. Whether it was a testament to how badly they’d been hurt or something about Keith’s new biology, though, he couldn’t say.

Keith jumped when he heard someone walking in behind him, turning to find Pidge there, the bluish lights from the pods reflecting on their glasses.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” they said. “I was just coming in to see how they were doing.”

“Me too,” Keith said, and it wasn’t entirely untrue.

“I admit I was a little surprised when I found out that the Azulans were… Galra,” they said. “I’d had my suspicions, because of Solom, but… Well, I guess you heard that Allura didn’t take it very well.”

“I sort of figured it out, yeah,” Keith murmured. “Does she… know about me?”

“Well I haven’t told her, but news travels fast around here. She didn’t come by to see you after you woke up, I take it.”

Keith shook his head.

“I’m sure she was just trying to give you your space,” Pidge said, though it didn’t sound like they were entirely convinced themself. They shifted their attention back to the two healing pods. “So Lance acted like you guys knew these two? He wouldn’t say much about them, though. I know one of them is Solom, but…”

“Yeah, Solom is the one that got stranded on Mora that we helped get to Azul. Then Jeddhas is, ah.” Keith’s lips hardened into a flat line. He didn’t know how much Pidge had heard about from the encounter on the storm planet. “She’s the daughter of another divergent that abandoned the colony.”

“Mekhas?” they asked. Keith’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Heard it through the grapevine,” they explained vaguely, eyes drifting to Jeddhas’s pod. “It was like a nightmare down there in the tunnels after they’d collapsed. I found them huddled together in a pocket under the rubble.” Pidge’s eyes closed slowly. “They had the only life signatures I could pick up anywhere. They were wearing those helmets that you two left behind when I found them. I think that’s what saved them.” Their eyes opened again, settling on Keith’s. “It still took an hour to safely dig them out, but Solom was a huge help with his robo-hand. I think that probably helped to protect them, too.”

Keith wasn’t sure how to respond, so he just turned back to the pods again, watching Solom’s face.

“Your eye glows now,” Pidge commented after a minute.

“My what?” Keith said, turning back to them.

Pidge pointed to their eye, mirroring Keith’s scarred one. “The yellow part glows,” they said. “ Do you see any differently through it than through your other eye?”

“No, I…” Keith stopped himself, closing his normal eye and looking around. “Actually, I think I have better night vision through it. Nothing really looks that different, though.”

“Interesting…” Pidge trailed off.

Keith cocked his head. “What is?”

“Sorry, I’m just trying to figure out how this works,” they said. “You have scars from before your fight with Axar, right?”

Keith nodded.

“I mean, obviously you do, everybody has scars. But I bet none of those older ones are purple, right?”

Keith shook his head. 

“I didn’t think so,” they said. “So my theory is this. You know how Galra instincts are supposedly ‘turned on’ over time, like turning on a gene in your DNA? I think… that’s what started happening to you. You hit a certain age, or you got triggered by  _ something _ , and the sort of ‘Galra genes’ started getting turned on, but it wasn’t just limited to instincts. You started getting other stuff, too, like, say, Galra healing. It explains how you recovered so quickly, and how your body actually managed to regenerate itself.”

“That’s a thing that Galra do?” Keith asked.

“Not sure, but it’s a thing that  _ you _ do. Could be a Galra thing, could be a halfling thing. I can’t really say. But maybe one of the five Galra on this ship could tell you more.”

“Yeah,” Keith said. “Maybe they could…”

 

The next morning Keith went straight to the med bay, hoping to find one of the Azulans there.

What he didn’t expect to find was Jeddhas, curled up in her open healing pod, head between her knees and arms wound tightly around herself. Lilac ears perked up upon Keith’s approach and slowly she lifted her head to look at him. She looked scared. Keith guessed she probably didn’t know where she was or understand what was happening.

Keith crouched down a few feet away from her, trying to make himself nonthreatening. “Hey, do you remember me?” he said.

Jeddhas just kept staring, eyes wide and breathing heavy.

Keith held his hand out to her and she looked at it for a while before tentatively reaching out, fingers brushing his slightly. She looked up again and her nose twitched, eyes flashing in recognition.

“Kiss…?” she asked.

Keith sighed. “Keith. Yeah, it’s me. Remember?.”

Jeddhas nodded slowly.

“Do you know what happened?”

Jeddhas shook her head.

“Can you tell me the last thing you remember?”

Jeddhas looked back down at the floor between her knees. “I was…” she began hesitantly. “I was out of my room at night. I was in the halls. Solom was there, too. He told me we didn’t have much time. He gave me a helmet and started running with me. Then there was a really loud sound and then… I don’t remember.”

“Do you know where we are now?”

Jeddhas shook her head.

“We’re inside the Castle of Lions. It’s a spaceship. My friend Pidge found you and Solom down there and they took you here so we could heal you. We’re gonna find you a new place to go where you can be safe, okay?”

Just then he heard the door open behind him, and Keith turned to see Khala walking in, still wearing her robes from Azul. She looked surprised to see Keith, or maybe she was surprised to see Jeddhas already out of the healing pod. It was surprise nonetheless.

“Keith,” she said softly. “When I saw your healing pod empty yesterday I could hardly believe my eyes, but now I see that it’s true.” Her eyes shifted onto Jeddhas. “And I see you’ve woken up too, little one. Are you feeling alright?”

Jeddhas nodded but was too shy to talk.

“Where are the others?” Keith asked.

“I’m alone right now,” Khala said. “The princess had some matters to discuss, but I felt it more important to be here. I trust that Sirth and Crochus are capable of handling the situation.”

“I see,” Keith said. He looked at Jeddhas, who appeared to be more at ease now that there was a more familiar face around, then turned his gaze to Solom in the pod behind him. “How much longer until he’s out?” he asked.

“Soon,” Khala answered. “Jeddhas, like you, was ahead of schedule, though not by as much. He should wake up today, if what the Altean man told me is accurate.”

“Coran,” Keith supplied. “And when he gets out? What next?”

“First I’d like to figure out how the empire was able to find us. I suspect Solom knows something about that. I’d like it if we didn’t have a repeat of this in the future.”

“And after that…?”

“Then we will begin looking for a new home.”

She spoke with a tone of finality that told Keith that they didn’t actually have a plan for how they were going to do that yet. But, he supposed, it was best to keep taking things one step at a time. 

“This isn’t what you really wanted to talk about, is it?” Khala said after a few moments. “The look in your eyes tells me you have some deeper questions you’d like to ask.”

Keith’s mouth opened and closed, but he was silent.

“Fine, then, I’ll start with a question of my own. Did your team know that you were a halfling when you joined them?”

“I… I, no.” Keith shook his head. “Nobody knew. Not even  _ I _ knew, I mean—”

“Of course, I suppose you wouldn’t have had so many questions if you knew. You don’t strike me as a very talented actor.”

Keith made a conscious decision not to take offense to that. “So I’m… what can you tell me, about, uh, halflings?”

Khala pursed her lips. “I’m afraid every case is different, and I’ve seen very few in the flesh. Some halflings are born into their Galra skin and some develop it over time. It appears that you were a bit of a late bloomer, if you will, being that your co-species develops rather quickly compared to the Galra.”

“So—so what does that mean, though?”

“I can’t say for sure. I imagine many of your dormant Galra traits have recently been activated. Judging by your ability to heal so quickly you must be near your adolescence, as regenerative healing tends to fade out in the sixth or seventh season.”

“B-but what does that mean about before? Before the Galra got ‘activated’, or whatever. Was I… was I just human then?”

Khala almost looked amused. “Is this a trick question? Surely you understand the basic principles of genetics. Technically speaking, you were never ‘just human’. You know this.”

Keith bit his lips and looked down. Of course he did, but… 

“Tell me, Keith. What does it really mean to be ‘human’ to you? Does it mean you have human parents? Does it mean you were born and raised by humans? Is it something that can only be defined by your genes? How do you define your humanity?” She paused as though to give Keith an opportunity to answer, but he didn’t. “You are just as human as you are Galra, this is a fact. Whether or not you believe that has any impact on who you are as a person, that is up to you.”

Khala folded her hands together and looked up. “Obviously I am not human, but I do like to believe that I am a person. I think that is why my empire abandoned me, for believing that I am. Personhood is not something that every living being is burdened with, you see, but it is as much a curse as it is a blessing.” She looked back down at Keith and smiled. “So I think what you might want to ask yourself instead is which is more important to you: being human, or being a person. And I’m afraid that’s a question that I cannot help you answer.”

Keith’s eyes stayed connected with hers for another moment after she finished speaking before he turned away. He stood up without saying anything, feeling a little overwhelmed by their conversation, and decided he needed to park that bit of introspection for later and clear his head. He nodded to her absently before walking toward the door.

His feet had carried him to the training deck before he even realized he'd left. Shiro was inside, fighting a training bot, probably level 4 judging by the way it was moving. Shiro was able to take it down with relative ease, unaware of his audience.

He wiped his forehead with the back of his arm, which was when he noticed Keith watching him from the doorway.

“Keith,” he said, breathing heavily from exertion. “You're out. How are you feeling?”

Keith shrugged. “I'm fine.”

“Were you wanting to train? I'm not sure that's such a good idea, a day after coming out of a healing pod.”

“I said I'm fine,” Keith said. “Not even sore or anything.”

Shiro seemed to believe him this time. “In that case, wanna tag team? I bet with two of us we could even take level six.”

Keith smirked. He hadn't even  _ attempted _ the level 6 gladiator on his own. Level 5 still destroyed him most of the time. But with Shiro, Keith bet they could do it.

“No harm in trying,” Keith said, walking over to Shiro, who smiled back at him. 

As it turned out, level 6 could, in fact, kick their asses. It took about ten seconds flat.

“End training sequence,” Shiro moaned, face down on the ground. Keith rubbed the back of his head and sat up from where he'd been thrown as the bot disintegrated.

“I swear each level is twice as hard as the last one,” Keith grumbled.

Shiro laughed. “I hope so. Otherwise I'd feel pretty pathetic for losing so easily.”

Keith smirked. “It was worth a shot. Maybe it was extra hard since there's two of us.”

“That's what I'll tell myself, at least.” Shiro's face sobered and he rolled onto his back, propping his head up to look at Keith. “So, was that the reason you came up here? Just to train? Or is something on your mind?”

Keith sighed. “Just clearing my head, I guess.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“Not really.”

Shiro nodded, turning his head to face the wall in front of him. “I'm sorry I wasn't… there with you after you woke up. Lance had told me what happened, told me about the battle. But seeing you come out of there with those scars, I couldn't even…” Shiro took in a deep breath. “It was wrong of me, not to be there for you. I just couldn't stand to think about what he'd done to you again. I was afraid that I would look at you and see the pain again. But that was selfish of me. I'm sorry.”

Keith shook his head. “No it's—I'm alright. I needed some alone time yesterday. I just…” Keith laughed a little. “I'm actually a little relieved. I was afraid that the reason you wouldn't look at me was because…”

Shiro looked back at Keith, sitting up fully. “You being Galra doesn't change anything, Keith. I would never let something like that affect how I feel about you. You're still you. That hasn't changed.”

“Yeah, I… I guess.”

Right then the door opened, Lance stepping inside.

“There you guys are. We were looking for you. Solom just got out of the healing pod,” he said. He cocked his head. “Why are you laying on the floor?”

Shiro pushed himself up and stood. “Bonding,” he said, offering Keith a hand to stand up. “So he’s awake?”

“Yeah. All of the Azulans are already gathered in there. They were going to ask him about Axar, but he said he wanted everyone to be there,” Lance said, looking at Keith.

“All right, then. Let’s not keep them waiting.”

 

Everyone was sitting in a circle on the floor when they arrived. Everyone including Allura, who didn’t turn back when Keith came in. His heart fell like a stone into his stomach.

“We’re all here now, so talk,” Sirth said before they could even sit down.

Keith sat next to Hunk, Lance settling on his other side. “We got tired of standing around waiting,” Hunk explained softly.

Solom was sitting on the opposite side of the circle from Keith, staring into his lap where his hand lay, clenching and unclenching. He looked up when he sensed Keith looking at him, cringing when he saw his face.

“Aye, I guess they’s no puttin’ it off any longer,” Solom grumbled, looking back down. “I know how th’ empire found Azul.”

“So spit it out already!” Sirth hissed.

“S’my fault,” he said. “When they took me, I thought they’d just f’got about me tech hand, so I was able ta escape. But Axar, he was…” He shook his head. “He musta been suspicious, put a trackin’ code in it an’ used it ta find th’ colony.” His other hand gripped the metal one tightly. “I was selfish, thinkin’ I still had a chance after they exiled me. I shoulda known. Shoulda let meself rot on Mora.” His grip tightened, as though he was trying to break the metal.

Khala’s face was made of stone. She closed her eyes but Keith could see the hair on the back of her neck rising. “I hope you realize that your  _ overlooking _ of this possibility costed  _ hundreds _ of lives. I should have you put to death—”

“I’ll decide who dies on my ship,” Allura cut in. Her attention turned to Solom. “Would this tracker in your hand still be active now? If it’s putting our ship at any risk for detection, it must be taken care of immediately, by whatever means necessary.”

Solom nodded. “Aye, princess.”

“I’ll see if there’s anything I can do to deactivate it,” Pidge offered. 

Allura nodded. “See that you do,” she said. “With that done, I do believe this brings us to our next question. Where can we take you where you will be able to live safely?”

Khala and Sirth didn’t appear to be satisfied with leaving the conversation at that, but they kept their mouths shut if they had any objections. Crochus was the first to speak up.

“I think it would be best to avoid settling anywhere in Galra-controlled territory. There are too many opportunities to be found again,” he said.

“Are there any refuge areas that we could take you to? Any communities that would harbor you?” Shiro asked.

Crochus shook his head. “I’m afraid that even if there were, they wouldn’t take kindly to us. Those who are not allies to the empire will see us as enemies, regardless our disassociation with the empire.”

“What about other divergent groups?” Keith asked. “Surely there are others out there that could take you in.”

“There’s no way of knowing,” Khala said. “Secrecy and isolation were the only things that let us stay hidden for as long as we did. We have no connection to any other divergent groups, just as they probably avoid any outside interaction as well. If there are others then they will be difficult to find.”

“Then what can we do?” Hunk said. “Are we supposed to just find some abandoned planet somewhere and leave you? That doesn’t sit right with me.”

“If there’s no other option, then…” Khala drifted off, eyes raising to meet with Keith’s, as though expecting him to add something, though Keith didn't know what that could be. 

“Maybe we should sit on this for a little longer, start thinking of other options. Surely there’s something we haven’t thought of yet,” Shiro said.

“Shiro is right,” Allura said. “We’ll do some more research and come back to it later. We have time, so we may as well use it to avoid making any rash decisions.”

Everyone seemed to agree that waiting was all that they could do, and the circle disbanded.

Keith's stomach growled as he left the room, prompting him to head to the kitchen. There was nobody else inside when he got there, which he took refuge in, though it was bound to be short-lived.

Sure enough, a few minutes later someone else followed him in. Keith looked up and was surprised to see Solom in the doorway, scratching the back of his neck and averting his eyes.

Keith did little to acknowledge him, mind set on getting food, but Solom obviously had something on his mind, clearing his throat before he started to speak. ([transcript here](http://sexythewalkingcatfish.tumblr.com/post/161319268274/chapter-6-solom-transcriptmore-keith-he))

“Keith,” he said, then stopped. It was a good effort at least.

Keith looked back up, eyebrows raised.

Solom scratched his neck again, slowly making his way further into the kitchen, eyes down. “I, ah, I wanted ta talk ta ye, if ye don't mind.”

“What's up?” Keith said.

“I just wanted ta say… A’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” Keith asked, tilting his head. “For what?”

“Fer draggin’ yer lot inta all this mess. 'Specially you.” Solom looked up from the ground slowly, gauging Keith’s reaction.

“We got ourselves into this, not you,” Keith said, avoiding his attempt to make eye contact. “We were just… helping each other get what we wanted. None of us could have predicted what happened.”

“Maybe ye couldn’t’a, but I coulda. I should’ve. T’was prideful o me ta think th’ empire woulda f’got abut somethin’ like me hand, selfish o me not ta jus’ destroy it. Hell, s’selfish o me lettin’ yer friend try an’ break the code now ‘stead o just throwin’ it inta space.” He held his hand in front of him, scowling at it, then looked back up at Keith. “It’s ‘cos of this tha’ Axar gave ye that,” he said, gesturing to himself then to Keith's scars.

Keith’s fist clenched on the table. “No. What happened between me and Axar, it's all on me,” he said. “All because of me and my stupid Galra sh—never mind, it doesn't matter. It's nothing to do with you.”

“S’got everything ta do wi’ me. We's all connected, ya know. As Galra. As people. Gotta look out for each other, 'specially bein’ divergent as we are. Shoulda known somethin’ like this coulda happened, thought about the risks.”

“You had no way of knowing.”

Solom shook his head. “A'm still sorry for it.”

“I'm not going to forgive you for something that wasn't your fault.”

Solom chuckled. “A'm not lookin’ fer forgiveness, lad. Just tryin’ ta express me sentiment.” He rubbed his palms together lightly, stepping backwards. “Well, guess I should get goin’, see what yer friend can do about me hand.” He waved his metal hand. “A'll be seein’ ye around, then.”

Keith nodded in acknowledgement as he turned and left the room.

 

There was a knock on his door in the middle of the night. Keith knew who it was before he even sat up all the way.

He rolled out of bed, stumbling to the door panel because he knew the knocking wouldn't stop until he at least acknowledged Lance's existence.

“What do you want?” Keith said as the door slid open, trying to sound as tired as possible so Lance might have the chance to take pity on his soul and let him sleep for just one night.

Lance looked apprehensive, shoulders slightly slumped and one hand grabbing his elbow. He was dressed in a T-shirt and boxers, no weird face mask, no fluffy robe, no blanket in tow, just himself and a thin sheen of sweat across his forehead. “Hey, Keith, bud,” he said with a meek wave and none of the vigor that Keith had come to expect. “Can I, uh, can I come in?”

Lance? Asking for permission? Either Keith was still asleep after all or something was actually wrong. Keith stepped aside and the door closed behind Lance as he came in. He took a seat on the edge of Keith's bed, Keith settling at the head with his back against the wall.

“So…” Keith trailed off awkwardly. “Why are you here…?”

Lance shook his head, laughing but in a nervous way. “You're gonna think it's lame.”

“Try me.”

Lance pulled his legs up on the bed, sitting crisscross. “Had a nightmare,” he mumbled, barely loud enough for Keith to hear. “Couldn't go back to sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see it again.”

“Oh,” Keith said. “Do you… do you wanna talk about it?”

Lance shook his head. “No, I… I don't know. Talking about it sort of makes it makes it real. And I really don't want it to be.”

“Okay then, well, what do you want me for?”

Lance shrugged. “To talk to, I guess. About other stuff. Anything else.”

Keith tilted his head. “You do realize that talking isn't exactly my speciality, right?” 

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Lance glanced up, eyebrows raising. “Your eye. It glows now,” Lance said, saving Keith the trouble of trying to think of something to talk about.

“Yeah, Pidge pointed that out to me earlier,” Keith said. “It has better night vision than the other eye. Galra perks, I guess.”

“Is anything else different? Like your hearing or anything?”

“Not unless I get my ear cut off,” Keith said, snorting. At Lance's look of horror, Keith realized he needed to explain. “Apparently adolescent Galra can regenerate parts of their body but it goes away when they're older. It's why I healed so quickly. And why I'm… purple.”

“Wait, so does that mean you're going through, like, Galra puberty right now?” Lance did a very bad job trying to hold back a laugh. “Like human puberty wasn't bad enough. Maybe now your voice will finally drop.”

“My voice is lower than yours, asslord.”

“Oh really?” Lance asked in a comically trying-too-hard low voice.

Keith rolled his eyes. “Sounds like you're the one that needs to go through second puberty. Maybe then you'd finally grow the fuck up.”

Lance's hand fell over his chest dramatically. “You wound me.”

“I'll get the healing pod set up for you.”

“Only if you help me put on the suit,” Lance said, winking.

Keith frowned, suppressing a shudder, though what it was from he wasn't sure. “I'm gonna kick you out if you don't stop being a dickstomp.”

Lance laughed. “How can you be so bad at talking to people but so good at making up insulting names?”

“Only with you, Lance.” 

“I feel so special.”

“Don't let it get to your head.” Keith yawned, stretching an arm behind his head. “You feeling any better now?”

Lance leaned back on his elbows. “Yeah, I mean, a little. But I'm still kinda… I dunno.”

“You're still kinda…?”

“Kinda afraid to go to sleep again. It's just… I've kind of been having the same nightmare ever since the last mission.”

Oh. So that was it. Truthfully, Keith hadn't been getting much sleep since then either, but he'd been unconscious in a healing pod for three days so he felt like he could afford a few restless nights.

“You're sure you don't wanna talk about it?” Keith asked leaning forward a little, and Lance mirrored him.

He reached forward and picked up Keith's right hand, staring at the scar, and that was explanation enough. “Yeah, I'm sure,” he said, stroking his thumb over the palm of Keith's hand.

“It's not as sensitive as my regular skin,” Keith said, changing the subject quickly. “I don't know if it's from the scar or if Galra skin is just like that.”

Lance traced his finger down Keith’s palm. “Did you feel that?”

“I said less sensitive, not numb, idiot.”

“What about the one on your face?” he asked, leaning over to touch the scar.

Keith rolled his eyes. “It’s really not  _ that _ different. Just a little,” he said. “You’ve been really touchy lately.”

“Sorry,” Lance said, not moving his hand. “Do you want me to stop?”

“I…”  _ Did _ he want him to stop? “I don’t really mind… I was just wondering why.”

It was dark, but with his Galra eye Keith could’ve sworn he saw Lance blushing. “Uh, that’s, I dunno, it’s something that I do with people I like.”

“People you like as in people who are your friends or…?”

“Uh, maybe more specific to people I’ve kissed before.”

“Oh.” Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. “Well I guess that doesn’t make me very special, then.”

Lance chuckled nervously. “You might be surprised to hear that while my flirting tactics may appear flawless in every way, they don’t always end up with me kissing the pretty girl.”

“What about the pretty boys?” Keith said too quickly, not in control of the words coming out of his mouth anymore.

“Well, I’ve only ever kissed one pretty boy before, so…”

“Wait.” Keith paused. “Are you straight?”

Lance's eyebrows drew together. “Are you kidding? No, I’m bi.”

“But you’ve never kissed another boy.”

“Life in the closet, man…” Lance traced his thumb down Keith's cheek, unreadable expression on his face.

“So does that make me the gay expert here?” Keith jabbed, smirking.

Lance scoffed. “Uh, and exactly how many pretty boys have  _ you _ kissed?”

“More than you.”

“Hard to believe.”

“Everyone had a rebel phase.”

“So then explain to me why you were so bad at kissing the other night on the observation deck,” Lance said, narrowing his eyes and grinning deviously.

“ _ Excuse me? _ ” Keith’s mouth fell open. “As I recall,  _ you _ were the one that started it, in the middle of me talking, by the way.”

“Yeah? And then what’s your excuse for after that?”

“It was my first time kissing you! It wasn’t even that bad.  _ You  _ seemed to be enjoying it just fine.”

“What? Hmm, nope. Don’t remember. Didn’t happen.”

Keith frowned. Lance was baiting him, he knew it. But that didn’t stop him from taking it. He grabbed Lance by the front of his shirt and pulled him closer, leaning back. “If you’re so competent then why don’t you teach me how it’s done?” he taunted.

Lance gulped. “Oh.”

Keith leaned in closer, hovering right in front of Lance's face. “I'm waiting,” he whispered.

Lance apparently wasn't having any of that, closing the space between them in a slow kiss. Keith hummed contentedly at the warm feeling of Lance's lips on his, idly regretting that there was no chapstick in space because he could tell they could both use some.

Lance moved so that he was settled over Keith's hips, reversing their position from the other day. He tilted Keith's chin up with one hand, the other tracing the collar of Keith's v-neck as he kissed him again. Keith's hands landed on Lance's hips, feeling down his thighs though the fabric of his boxers. He could feel Lance smiling.

Keith pulled back for a moment to catch his breath. “Was this your plan from the beginning?” he asked. “Come here in the middle of the night to make out?”

“Well, no, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t considered the possibility,” Lance admitted, breath ghosting across Keith's lips.

Keith laughed softly, reaching his hands further back to grab Lance's ass, making his breath catch in his throat. “I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sorta hoping you would,” he said, kissing Lance again with a little more vigor than before.

Lance returned it enthusiastically for a few seconds before pulling away again. “Wait. Wait, does this mean that… you like me?”

Keith raised his eyebrows at him. “You really feel the need to ask me that right now, when you're literally sitting in my lap with my hands on your ass, kissing me?”

“I like to have verbal confirmation.”

Keith felt his face start to heat up at the sincerity in his voice, and while he was sure Lance couldn't see it, he couldn't help but bury his face in Lance's shoulder. “Yes,” he mumbled.

“What was that? I couldn't hear you. Speak up.”

Keith lifted his head a little, still averting his eyes. “I like you,” he said, a little louder than last time.

He looked up to see Lance smiling like he'd won something. “Wait, one more time? I missed that last part.”

“Shut _ up _ ,” Keith said, headbutting him. “Just kiss me again and stop talking.”

Lance laughed, kissing Keith's cheek before moving to his lips again. He threaded his fingers through Keith's hair, tugging just hard enough to send sparks down his spine. Keith's hands wandered up, slipping under Lance's T-shirt and up the smooth muscles of his back. Lance's hips ground forward, making Keith scratch his nails down Lance's back at the sensation.

Keith's mouth started to travel along Lance's jaw and down his neck, nipping him along the way to make him squirm. Lance's hands drifted down Keith's sides, tugging at the bottom of his shirt like he wasn't sure what to do with it.

“How far do you wanna go?” Keith asked against Lance’s neck.

“I, uh, well how far do  _ you _ wanna go?” Lance sputtered.

“Well we don't have any space lube, so I can't fuck you. But anything aside from that is fair game.”

Lance sputtered for a moment. “Wait, who says  _ you _ get to do the fucking? And exactly how much fucking experience do you even have, anyway?”

Keith leaned back and glared. “Does it really matter right now? We can't do it anyway.”

“You're avoiding the question.”

“You're killing my boner.”

Lance shoved one hand unceremoniously into Keith's underwear and grabbed his dick, stroking it slowly, making Keith moan before he could help it. “Seems fine to me,” he said. “So answer the question.”

Keith had some trouble forming thoughts for a moment, what with Lance McFuck of all people suddenly touching his dick, but he eventually managed to respond. “Why do you wanna know? Does thinking about me fucking other people get you off or something?”

“Uh,  _ no. _ I just… uh…”

“That's really convincing,” Keith said, slipping his hands under Lance's shirt and feeling up his sides. Lance paused to pull his shirt over his head, throwing it on the floor, and Keith took the opportunity to push Lance back so that he was laying on the bed, legs spread with Keith between his thighs.

Keith bent down to press kisses down his chest, one hand placed tantalizingly on his inner thigh near where his erection was straining through his boxers but never quite close enough. Keith swore he heard Lance whine his name.

Keith's mouth traveled along Lance's chest, hesitating for just a moment before biting down lightly onto his nipple.

Lance's back arched off the bed and he moaned. “Unh, oh my god dude that was so _ weird _ . I felt that in my _ knee _ .”

Keith immediately pulled away. “You what.”

“ _ And _ in my shoulder, god, it’s like it branched out,” Lance said.

“It  _ what _ .”

“I don't know how else to describe it. It's like when someone touches you and you feel it in your dick, except it was diff—”

“Okay, new rule, you're not allowed to talk and I'm never doing that again.”

“It's not like it was  _ bad _ weird, it was just not what I was expe—”

“Literally what did I just say.” 

“Come on, Keith, you and I both know that not talking is an unrealistic expectation of me.”

Keith decided to take that as a challenge, kissing Lance roughly and palming him through the front of his boxers. Lance gasped, digging his nails into Keith's shoulders, which Keith didn't expect to like as much as he did. He leaned back for a moment to take his shirt off, flinging it somewhere, then took a moment to admire Lance below him. His skin had a light sheen of sweat, making his hair stick to his forehead, and his lips were swollen, arms splayed out to his sides.

“Wow, you look pretty wrecked for not having done anything yet,” Keith said.

“You look pretty,” Lance said, as though it was a retort. “Uh, I mean, pretty fucking gorgeo—goddamn hot, fuck.”

Keith laughed, one hand covering his face.

“Are you gonna keep laughing at me all night or are you gonna take my pants off?” Lance said. “Because I'm about to start taking care of this myself.”

Keith was still giggling while he pulled down Lance's boxers much slower than necessary, just far enough to get to his cock. Lance hissed when he was finally free, hands going to Keith's hips to start to pull his boxer briefs down but Keith stopped him.

“Can I suck you off?” Keith asked, like it was a totally normal question to bring up, right next to “can you pass the salt?”

“Uh, only if you want me to cum in like point three seconds because that's exactly what would happen.”

Keith stroked Lance languidly, savoring how his eyes closed and his breath hitched. “As long as you promise to get me off, I don't really care,” he said, witnessing the very moment that Lance.exe stopped working.

Keith didn't wait for a response, leaning down and taking the head into his mouth. 

“Fuuuuuck,” Lance whined, hands grasping the sheets.

Keith licked a stripe up the underside of Lance's cock before gripping the base, taking as much into his mouth as he could without it being uncomfortable. It had been a while, after all, and he didn't take Lance for the type to think it was sexy to gag in the middle of a blowjob.

He started bobbing his head slowly, looking up to gauge Lance's reaction, definitely not disappointed to see him with one hand thrown over his face, the other gripping the sheets.

Keith paused for a second. “I'm sucking your dick and you're not even going to watch?” he teased.

Lance groaned, slowly removing his arm and looking down just in time to watch Keith's lips wrap around his dick again. He  _ whined _ , hands moving to tangle his fingers in Keith's hair, which Keith was starting to find he really, really liked. His eyes closed, one hand moving down to palm his own erection while the other moved in tandem with his mouth.

Lance sounded like he was losing his mind. Of course he'd be vocal in bed. He was vocal everywhere else. Though he was using significantly fewer real words than normal.

“Fuck fuck fuck,  _ Keith _ . Wait. Stop. C’mere,” Lance said tugging on Keith's hair to bring him up. Keith’s lips came off with a pop and he looked up at Lance through his eyelashes. Lance looked totally destroyed, face flush and hair a mess, breathing heavily. He pulled Keith up further and kissed him, tasting his lips as he reached down and pushed down Keith's underwear. He took both of their cocks in hand, stroking them together. Keith shuddered, pulling away from the kiss to lean his face into Lance's neck as he let him jerk them both off.

“Shit, please tell me you're close,” Lance hissed. 

Keith nodded in reply, hips canting forward into Lance's hand, hands clenching the sheets on either side of Lance's head.

“Good, because I'm…  _ fuck _ .” Lance's hips jolted forward once more and he was gone, cum streaking across his stomach. Keith was quick to follow, teeth digging into Lance's collarbone as he came hard, then collapsed half on top of Lance.

They looked at each other, breathing heavily, coming down from the high.

Lance was the first to say something, as was typical for him. “So anyway, what I came in here to ask was if you would mind if I stayed here tonight?” 

Keith couldn't help but laugh, leaning his forehead against Lance's chest. “Pretty big lead up,” he said, shaking his head. “You realize I would've said yes without the handjob, right?”

“Yeah, but this way I figured you wouldn't make me sleep on the floor.”

“That's a pretty big assumption you're making,” Keith said, smirking. “But yeah, you can sleep here.”

“Yay!” Lance yelled throwing one of his hands in the air. “I call little spoon.”

“Shut the fuck up and help me clean up so we can go to bed,” Keith said, starting to sit up.

Lance laughed. “Roger that.”

 

They were sitting on Keith's bed the next morning, not talking, just letting their brains wake up. Keith couldn’t remember his dream very well, but he’d woken up feeling unsettled, which had only been dampered slightly by waking up with Lance in his arms.

He tried to think something to calm himself down, but all that kept coming up were thoughts about their next mission, which just left him with a bunch of unanswerable questions.

Apparently he was making a face, because Lance looked over at him with raised eyebrows. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?” he asked.

“Nothing, just…” He sighed. “I wonder how we're going to find a place for Solom and the others to go. We've got basically no leads.”

“Ah.” Lance nodded slowly, resting his chin on his hands in front of him. “Well actually… I mean, there's one.”

“There is?”

“Yeah. You know, like,” he gestured vaguely at Keith, frowning when Keith obviously didn’t understand what he was getting at. “Your mom.”

Keith raised one eyebrow. “You do realize I can't actually access her memories, right? It's more like—”

“No, I know. I mean more like we can look at where she's been.” Both of Keith’s eyebrows went up then as Lance continued, “We know that she went to Earth around 20 years ago with a group of other divergents that she escaped off of Axar’s ship with. So it’s likely—”

“You don't think they  _ stayed _ on Earth, do you? I told you, I never even met her.”

“I know, I know. Let me finish,” Lance said, waving his hands. “What I’m saying is they couldn't have gotten far in the escape pods they hijacked without some major modifications, so if there's a colony anywhere, it's gotta be within the galaxy. That narrows down our options a lot.”

“But what if there's nothing there, and it's just a waste of our time? They could’ve just been planet-hopping for all we know. There may not even  _ be _ a colony.”

“Do you see a better option? It's the best lead we've got! You have to admit that much.” 

Lance had a point, but Keith was still on the fence. His lips pressed into a hard line, hands clasping in his lap.

Lance looked at Keith's face narrowing his eyes. “What, are you,” his eyes widened, “are you  _ afraid _ we'll find something?”

Keith shook his head, but Lance wasn’t totally wrong.  Keith was just as afraid of finding something as he was of finding nothing. “No, you’re right. We should tell the others. The sooner we can find a place, the better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Illustration](https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/161320525153/finally-back-at-it-again-very-very-very-speedy) (sorry it's a lil rough this week y'all lmao)  
>  Jeddhas and Keith [sketches](https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/161318642593/soon-hiwtyl-chapter-6-sketches)
> 
> So I have good news and bad news. Good news is my favorite insult is in this chapter (i'm sure you can guess which one it is). Bad news, i have another con next week, which means another two week break before the last chapter. At least it gives you guys time to prepare though? I know I definitely am not ready. feel free to scream at me on tumblr in the meantime, I don't bite much ([@sexythewalkingcatfish](http://sexythewalkingcatfish.tumblr.com/))
> 
> Your comments have been keeping me alive so a big old shoutout to all of you commenters for sticking by and motivating me! <3 you all so much


	7. Single Moments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team gets a lead that takes them oddly close to home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it. I'm having a lot of feelings.
> 
> Solom has a little more extended dialogue this chapter so I'll throw in some transcripts where they might be most needed.  
> Lots of POV switching this chapter too!

Shiro nodded slowly. “So what you’re suggesting is we search for uninhabited but life-supporting planets in the Milky Way galaxy in hopes of finding a colony  _ possibly  _ formed when a group of divergents escaped Axar’s ship twenty years ago. Is that right?”

“Essentially, yeah,” Keith said.

Everyone on board was gathered in the common area, the paladins sitting on the couch with Coran and Allura standing nearby. The Azulans stood together a bit further away, but still involved in the conversation.

“Okay, well, I think we need to think about this for a second,” Pidge said. “Even  _ if _ they were able to escape, there’s no way Axar wouldn’t have sent someone after them to recapture them, or worse. So that leaves two options. Either they were constantly on the move to avoid detection, or they got caught. So the likelihood of there being a colony somewhere seems kind of slim.”

“ _ Unless _ they were somehow able to avoid being pursued in the first place,” Hunk suggested.

“And how would they have managed that?” 

“Twenty years,” Solom muttered, stroking his chin. “Some’n tell me how long that is.”

“It’s almost six seasons,” Keith answered. ([Solom Transcript](http://sexythewalkingcatfish.tumblr.com/post/161857241934/chapter-7-solom-transcript-more-soloms-eyes))

Solom’s eyes widened. “Ye can’t mean… Th’ escape o’ Midak, ye’s tellin’ me tha’ was  _ yer _ mum?”

“You know something about it?” Keith asked, trying not to sound too desperate.

“Aye, t’was ‘fore I started workin’ under Axar’s command, but I heard th’ stories. Axar's ship was carryin’ some allegedly dastardly divergent lot tha’ needed immediate transport ta central command, so the’ was travelin’ by hyperspeed. But some’ow, supposedly, Midak managed ta break out th’ prisoners an’ hijacked an escape pod in th’ middle ovit, gone wi’out a trace. Axar abut lost his head ta Zarkon tha’ day, if no’ fa him bein’ such a suck-up. 'Stead e jus’ lost his arm.” He smiled grimly. “Got a much more brutish one outta it, tae.”

“That sounds insane,” Pidge said.  “How did they manage to get that timing just right, with such a short window of opportunity?”

“Well i' wasn't just her. The’ was a mass exile after th’ incident, since Axar knew they had ta’ve had more people on th’ inside workin’ ta let them escape. He exiled anyone tha’ might'a been involved, executed th’ more suspicious fellows. Most think it was probably part o’ th’ deal wi’ Zarkon ta let him keep ‘is sorry life. I was hired onta his ship pretty soon after, fillin’ in some o’ th’ void. Those tha’ was left wasn't s’posed ta talk about th’ incident, but it din't stop th’ story from gettin’ spread around.”

“So that's how Keith's mom and the divergent group ended up flung to our side of the universe, and avoided getting recaptured,” Hunk said thoughtfully. “So then our galaxy _ has _ to be our best bet for finding another colony.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Except for Keith, who was still staring at Solom, trying to process all of the information he just heard.

“We can make a wormhole jump back to the Solar system, then start scans for habitable planets without established populations,” Allura said, taking on her diplomatic tone. “We'll leave right away.”

 

 

Less than an hour later they were back in the Solar system. Lance expected to feel more of a sense of familiarity when they got there, but honestly it looked about like every other star system they'd been to. They weren't even close enough to a planet for him to recognize anything.

Hunk walked over to Lance's station while the ship was doing its detailed planetary scans, placing a hand on the back of his chair.

“Hey, Hunk, what's up?” Lance said.

“Just wanted to see how you're holding up,” he answered. “It's a little weird being back here. Pidge seemed kind of upset, but they're trying not to show it.”

Lance averted his gaze downward. It did feel pretty strange to be so close to Earth without any intention of just  _ going back _ , but he was trying his best not to think about it. “It's fine. We have a job to do.”

Hunk flashed him a sympathetic smile that didn't linger. “Yeah, I guess we do. Good call, thinking of this. I know the Azulans are happy to have some hope, after everything.”

“We'll know if it was a good call when we find something,” Lance replied, frowning.

“We’ll find something.”

“Our scans are done!” Pidge announced a moment later. “According to our readings, there are 10 uninhabited planets with livable conditions for Galra on this side of the galaxy. We're probably better off starting with the planets closest to the Solar system and working our way out, since I’m not sure how far Galra escape pods can go on their own.”

Across the room, Shiro nodded. “We'll split into teams so we can cover more ground. Hunk and Pidge, you two can go together starting with the closest planet. Lance and I will go to the second closest. Keith, you can work with the castle ship and check out the third. And we'll go from there.”

Everyone nodded their understanding then left to suit up. As Lance was leaving, his eyes caught Keith’s, seeing some kind of unreadable emotion in his face. But he didn’t get the chance to ask about it before Keith turned away and the doors closed behind him.

 

 

Keith had the lingering feeling that Shiro had done this on purpose, but he wasn't about to argue with the team captain when he didn't have any better reason for not wanting to stay with the castle than “I don't wanna.” He had yet to have any kind of one-on-one conversation with Allura since finding out about his heritage, and the way she'd reacted to the Azulans made him wary to change that.

But obviously Shiro had other plans for him.

Keith tried to escape to his lion with the others, but Coran stopped him before he could get too far.

“Keith? Where are you going? There's no need to get in your lion just yet until we go to get a closer look,” he said. Keith was starting to think that he was in on it too.

He looked over and saw that Allura was wearing a similarly uncomfortable expression on her face.  “It'll just be a few minutes to get to the Trappist system,” she said, stilted.

“Alright,” Keith said.

And then it was silent.

A minute passed and nobody spoke.

Two minutes.

Coran sighed. 

Keith felt like he was going to implode from the tension hanging in the air. “ _ Fine _ , I'll start, if you won't,” he said, turning to Allura. “You've been avoiding me ever since the fight with Axar. I don't know if it was something I did or just who I am, but if for some reason you _ hate _ me now the least you can do is tell me why.”

Allura looked shocked, like she'd expected to just keep their game of pretending the other didn’t exist going indefinitely.

“I—I don't know what you're—”

“ _ Seriously _ ? Do you really want to finish that sentence?” Keith deadpanned.

Allura puffed her cheeks out, flustered. “I don't know!” she yelled throwing her hands in the air. “I don't know what to feel right now, alright? All I know is I have five Galra on my ship that I was not aware I would be hosting before a few days ago and a paladin whose Galra mother is apparently our best shot for getting them off.”

“And what does any of that have to do with ignoring me?” Keith said.

Allura looked down and didn't respond.

“Look, I can't help who my parents are. My mother is Galra. I can't  _ change _ that. And I can't let knowing that change who  _ I _ am. We know that Galra aren't all brainwashed, bloodthirsty mass murderers—those five that we have on the ship right now are proof of that. And if I can accept that this is just the way things  _ are _ now, I don't see why you can't.”

It wasn't until after he finished speaking that he realized what he'd just said. Learning something new about himself… hadn't changed who he was. It was just that. Something new. And he realized he could accept that now. He felt a weight begin to lift off of his chest.

Allura sighed heavily. “Keith, I'm sorry. You're right that is not your fault who your parents are. It was wrong of me to let my feelings get in the way of treating you fairly over the last few days. I… do hope you can accept my apology,” she finally said.

Keith nodded. “Thank you.”

A not-entirely-uncomfortable silence hung in the air for a few moments after that, until Coran announced that they were nearing the Trappist system. Keith took that as his cue to get to his lion so that they could perform some close-range scans.

Before he could leave, however, the main door to the bridge opened, and Solom stepped inside. His Galra tech hand was missing.

“Solom! What brings you up here?” Coran asked.

Solom scratched behind his ear, looking to the side. “Got tired o’ waitin’ down there. I was wonderin’ if the’ was anything I could do ta help.”

Allura started to speak, “I don't think—”

“Actually, I was about to take Red down to check for signs of life,” Keith cut her off. “It might be good to have another divergent around, in case I do find something.” Keith looked to Allura, silently praying for her approval. She was frowning a little, but she nodded.

“A'll follow you, then,” Solom said, nodding.

The two of them made their way down to the Red Lion's hangar while Keith filled Solom in on the specifics of what they'd be doing. It was relatively boring stuff, but Keith was glad that Solom would be there to help interpret whatever readings he saw, rather than relying solely on Coran and Allura.

Solom was also thoroughly impressed with the Red Lion, making some sort of happy, inhuman trilling noise when he got inside. There was a part of Keith that wondered if he could do that, too.

“I never imagined A’d get ta see one o’ these up close,” Solom remarked.

Keith felt Red’s uncertainty about letting a stranger into her cockpit, but Keith assured her that he was a friend. He settled himself in the pilot’s seat and told Solom to hold on.

Marmora, the planet that humans labeled Trappist-1f when they found it some 40 years ago, wasn’t the prettiest planet Keith had ever seen. One half of it was permanently facing its star while the other was shrouded in darkness, which left only a thin ring that was actually habitable. Its surface was rocky and gray, with nothing resembling Earthlike vegetation. Keith definitely wouldn’t want to live there.

He pulled up the readings from his scanners as he approached the planet, though most of the figures he was looking at were way above his pay grade. He told Solom to point out anything unusual as he flew closer to the planet to get some clearer readings on the habitable zone.

They were just approaching the very outer ring of the atmosphere when he felt a pulse rack through his body. Suddenly Red’s power cut off, and Keith and Solom were left in darkness.

“What’s going on? What was that?!” Keith said, hitting every button on his control panel he could find, all to no avail.

“Some kind o’ jammer?” Solom said.

“Why would there be a jammer in the middle of— _ oh. _ ”

Keith and Solom shared a look, thanks to their glowing Galra eyes, and in the same moment they seemed to realize that Red had not stopped moving when the power cut. Instead her momentum carried her forward, just close enough to the planet for its gravity to start pulling them in.

Keith frantically pulled at the controls but Red wasn’t waking up. He felt them start to gain speed in their fall, and his heart sank into his stomach. This was bad.

“Coran! Allura! Do you copy?” Keith yelled into his comm, but there was no response. Not even static. Whatever that pulse thing had been, it knocked out everything. “Do you copy?!” he repeated, knowing there wouldn’t be an answer.

He could see the surface getting closer by the second. His grip on the controls tightened and he grit his teeth as he prayed that they would land on something soft.

“Brace yourself!”

 

 

Lance didn’t waste a moment getting to his lion after Shiro announced the plan. He was in the cockpit and flying out of the castle in record time, Shiro trailing not too far behind him. It would only take a few minutes to fly to wherever it was these coordinates were telling him to go, but Lance’s anticipation made time seem to drag.

Shiro hailed him after they'd started to put some distance between them and the Solar system.

“Shiro, what's up? Is there a problem?” Lance asked.

“No, no problem. Actually, I just wanted to talk to you,” Shiro answered.

Lance's eyebrows rose. That seemed to be the common theme for the day. “Oh, I see.” He paused. “What about?”

“About Keith.”

Lance felt himself stiffen up a bit but he kept his voice even when he replied. “What about him?”

“Just… how is he holding up, with all this? I mean, I've talked to him some since the whole… everything, but that was before we decided that tracking down his estranged alien mother was the best way to find a place for the exiles to go. I'm afraid it might be a lot for him.”

“Why not just ask him yourself?” Lance said, frowning.

Shiro laughed but Lance couldn't tell if there was any humor in it. “I think we both know that Keith can be a bit reluctant to talk about his feelings sometimes. I'm afraid he would downplay it if I asked him directly.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Lance said. “But like… What makes you think he's opened up to me, then?”

Shiro seemed to ponder it for a second. “Well, I think everyone has noticed how you two have been a lot closer ever since that mission to Azul,” he said. “That and I saw the bruise on your collarbone while you were leaning over earlier, and it didn’t look like you got it from combat.” 

Lance’s face heated up as he slapped a hand over his chest. “Uh. That was—it wasn't— just…”

Shiro chuckled. “Don't worry, I don't think anyone else noticed.”

For some reason that didn't make him feel much better.

“So? Has he said… anything?” Shiro asked.

Lance's mouth flattened into a line. “Well, no, he hasn't exactly  _ said _ anything about the whole mom thing, but he seemed kind of nervous when I suggested the plan yesterday. Which I guess I can understand, given the circumstances.  But I think… he's gonna be alright, though. He’s tough.”

“Yeah, you're right,” Shiro said, sighing. “Thanks, Lance. I guess I just needed the reassurance.”

Lance smirked. “You’re welcome, cap.”

In the window ahead Lance saw that they were coming up on a planetary system. “See the planet closest to us? That must be Proxima,” Shiro said, sending Lance a highlighted image on his screen. “You start your scans from the top and I’ll start from the bottom.”

“You got it,” Lance said.

“Allura, do you copy? Lance and I are coming in on Proxima,” Shiro said.

There was no response for a few seconds.

“Allura?” Shiro repeated.

Still no response, not even static.

“Why isn’t she responding?” Lance asked.

“I don’t know. Allura, do you copy? Allura!”

“Shiro, Lance, are you there?” Pidge’s voice came out suddenly through the comm.

“Yeah, we’re here,” Shiro said.

“So it isn’t on our side. We were trying to contact the castle-ship, but we can’t get a hold of anyone,” Pidge said.

“Shit,” Lance breathed out.

“I take it that means you can’t get them either,” Pidge said.

“Has anyone tried to contact Keith?” Lance asked.

“I’m already on it. Keith, do you copy? We can’t get a hold of Allura.”

There was no response.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Shiro said lowly, almost to himself. “Everyone, reset course for the Trappist system. We need to figure out what’s going on.”

“Roger that.”

 

 

They landed in the ocean. Keith knew because they weren’t dead. The impact of hitting the water had still flung him across the cockpit, and the throbbing in his head told him he might have been knocked out for a few minutes.

He sat up slowly, trying to orient himself. “Solom? You okay?” he called.

There was no response, but in the dim light he could make out someone laying in the corner across from him. He crawled over slowly, shaking Solom by the shoulder and repeating his name.

“Keith…?” Solom said slowly. “Wha’ happened?”

“I think we hit the ocean. Can’t see anything outside. The system must still be down,” he said.

“Lucky break,” he muttered. “No’ even Voltron woulda taken well ta a nasty fall like tha’ had we hit land.”

“Especially not Red,” Keith said, considering Red’s relatively weaker armor. He let out a long breath. “So, what do we do now?”

“Wait an’ see if this thing reboots itself, I guess.”

As much as Keith hated the idea of waiting around, he couldn’t think of anything better to do. Not like he had the tech skill to try and figure out what was wrong.

“I never did thank ye,” Solom said, after a pause.

Keith snorted. “Thank me? What for?”

“Fer comin’ back fer us. Hell, fer givin’ me a chance ta start,” he said, then laughed. “Ye’s probably takin’ me fer a big softie right nae.”

Keith's eyebrows rose. “No, I… I was just doing what's right,” he said. “It's not something you have to thank me for.”

“Even though A’m Galra?”

Keith looked down at his open palms, brows drawing together. “Ever since that day that I met Mekhas I started to realize… war is a whole lot more complicated than good versus evil. It’s easier when you think about it that way, but that doesn’t make it true. And there isn’t really a good end to it either. Winning the war doesn’t change what happens during it. For either side.” Keith’s eyes fell back down to Solom. “So I guess the answer you’re looking for is yeah. Even though you’re Galra. I still think it was the right thing to do to give you a chance.”

Solom’s eyes were wide. He looked like he was about to respond when suddenly the Red Lion jerked. Keith whipped his head around, but the lights were still out.

“What’s happening? Did the system reboot?” he thought aloud.

“Don’t look like it,” Solom said, wrinkling his nose and frowning.

Keith could feel Red being pulled upward, though he didn’t know how. His heart sped up in his chest and he looked around wildly, trying to decide if there was something he could do. How were they being moved? Did somebody find them? Was it Voltron? Was it  _ Lance _ ?

They stopped moving suddenly after a couple of minutes. There was a beat of silence, then some sort of thumping coming from outside. Keith drew his bayard.

The next moment was a blur lost in a burst of motion as Red’s power came back on and the hull opened abruptly, Keith and Solom suddenly spat out onto the floor of some sort of cave. Keith looked up, dazed, as the Red Lion whipped around, dislodging cables that had been wrapped around the hull, then fell still once again.

“What the fu—”

“Explain yourself!” a booming voice called out from above. Keith looked up and saw a woman’s silhouette, barely visible in the low light. “What business does a Paladin of Voltron have on Marmora?” 

She was addressing Keith but he suddenly found himself unable to speak, so Solom called back instead.

“The Paladins of Voltron merely seek a place of refuge for the remnants of my colony,” he said, voice clearer as he spoke more formally, though his accent still lingered faintly. “The exiles of Azul were attacked by the empire and now only five of us remain. We knew nowhere else to go except to chase the rumors of Midak.”

The woman leapt down in front of them in a flash, more figures appearing from the shadows. Her clothes were Galran but obviously well-worn and patched up crudely in places, and her face was hidden behind a mask. Keith's grip held tight on his bayard but he resisted changing it to its weapon form. 

“Where did you hear that name?” the woman hissed, holding up her own weapon, a clawed gauntlet.

Suddenly Keith was thrust back onto Axar's ship, reliving the memory of picking up the fragmented pieces of his bayard and seeing it change before his eyes. He stared at the claw then stared up at her and the pieces fit together in his head. He knew who she was.

He activated his bayard, threw his helmet to the ground, and glared straight into his mother's hidden face, an unbridled rage blooming in his chest. She appeared taken aback by his outburst, frozen in place as everybody in the room prepared to leap at the slightest threat.

He only said three words to her.

“You abandoned me.”

 

 

Lance and Shiro were the first to arrive on the scene. They found the castle-ship floating dead in the emptiness in front of Marmora, but the Red Lion was gone.

“Where’s Keith?” Lance said to no one in particular.

“We’re just a couple minutes away now. What do you guys see?” Hunk asked.

“Just the castle-ship, but all the lights are out. It looks like the power shut off somehow. I’m gonna take a closer look,” Shiro said. “I want to make sure Allura and the others are okay, and it’s possible Keith is still inside, too.”

“Should I scan the planet?” Lance said.

“Not until Pidge and Hunk get here,” Shiro said. “I don’t want us to separate until we get a better idea of what happened.”

Lance huffed but didn’t object, following Shiro to the castle. But all of the hangar doors were closed, and there was no other way to get inside without force.

“According to my scans, it looks like everyone is alright inside. But Red isn’t there,” Shiro said.

“Is he on the surface, then? Do you think they have some sort of jammers in place?” Lance asked.

“It could be but we ca—Lance, where are you going? Get back here!”

But Lance was already making a beeline for Marmora. He pulled up the information that Allura had sent out earlier and started close-range scans of the “habitable zone” where dark and light met in a ruddy glowing line.

Shiro followed him shortly after. “Glad you decided to join me,” Lance said.

Shiro sighed heftily. “If you can’t beat them…”

“Don’t worry about it, Shiro,” Pidge said. “Hunk and I are coming up on the castle-ship now. We’ll see what we can do from up here while you two look for Keith.”

There was a blip on Lance’s radar right as Pidge finished talking and Lance dove for it without warning, Shiro trailing after him. The signal was gone as soon as it appeared.

“It was the Red Lion” Lance said. 

“I know,” Shiro replied.

They stopped right as they were nearing the surface at the realization that that it wasn’t the  _ surface _ at all but actually an ocean. Lance’s heart felt like a stone in his chest.

“Go,” Shiro said. “This is your domain. Find him.”

Lance dove into the water without a second thought.

 

 

The weight of Keith’s words hung heavy in the air and nobody moved, even at the announcement of two incoming spacecrafts. The woman removed her mask slowly, revealing her face to Keith. She had mismatched eyes, one glowing yellow while the other glowed violet.

Keith expected seeing her face to have more of an impact on him. As striking as her features were, she still looked like many of the other Galra he’d seen. Not as fluffy as some of the others but not totally smooth either, a dark mane at the back of her head and part way down her back, save for a few gray streaks, and a white mark running down from her bottom lip. Keith was almost disappointed that she didn't seem more… familiar.

But he could see the recognition in her eyes as she stepped forward, hand raising up to trace the scar running down his cheek. He froze under her touch.

“My son,” she whispered. “Kizazrak, you have returned to me.”

Keith shuddered when he heard the name, immediately knowing it was his. He batted her hand away, pushing her back with perhaps more force than necessary. “Don’t touch me,” he spat, watching the way her face twisted as his words cut her. “You gave up the right to do that a long time ago.”

“Keith,” Solom said, hand on his shoulder and a warning in his voice. “Now’s not th’ time.”

Keith’s glare didn’t leave Midak’s face but he stopped himself from saying anything else.

“Red Paladin,” Midak tried again, choosing Keith’s title instead of his name. “Is it true what he says? Do you come bringing those that seek refuge?”

Keith held back a sneer, took a steadying breath then nodded, trying to push back his feelings enough to be diplomatic. “They were discovered by Axar. He killed most of the exiles, but we rescued the few that survived. There aren't a lot of places in the universe that will take in Galra divergents.”

She sneered when she heard the name. “Axar. That sick bastard still lives after all these years.”

Keith set his jaw. “Not anymore.”

He saw surprise flash in her eyes but she didn't get the chance to respond when a younger man approached from behind. “Midak, one of the spacecrafts is nearing our location. The pulse generator is almost finished recharging. Do we proceed?” he asked.

Midak held up her clawed hand to him. “Is it one of yours?” she asked Keith.

The team must have realized something happened and come for him. He nodded his head.

“Hold off. Let them come to us. They are not enemies.”

Keith felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest and he sighed deeply, thankful that he wouldn’t have to deal with this on his own for much longer.

 

 

The ocean of Marmora was cold and dark. While there was no obvious plant life, the water was cloudy with mud and dark-colored sand. Lance couldn’t rely on his eyes to navigate, instead trusting that Blue would be able to take him to Keith.

He didn’t see the entrance to the cave, but suddenly there was light on his screens again as he came up on a huge cavern. He saw the Red Lion in the corner when he emerged and breathed a huge sigh of relief. He could see figures standing on the other side, and he thought he recognized the glow of the paladin armor in the distance.

“Keith is here,” he announced over the comm. “There’s a huge cave down here. This must be the other colony. I’m going out to see what they’re doing.”

Lance could feel the tension in the group disperse as everyone took in the news. 

“Great work, Lance. Be sure to keep us posted,” Shiro said.

“Roger that.”

He parked Blue down next to Red, stomach stirring uncomfortably when he noticed Red’s eyes were dark, but he pushed it aside as he disembarked and ran over to where Keith stood.

There were many pairs of eyes on him as he approached the group, but he only cared about one of them. He was so happy he could have cried and he tackled Keith with a full-body hug. Keith laughed as he returned it and the sound rung like music in Lance’s ears.

“You’re alright,” Lance said.

“Sorry for worrying you,” Keith apologized.

Lance pulled away and shook his head. “Not your fault,” he said. Finally, he took in the faces of the others in the damp cave. There were many masked figures that stood in the shadows, but it was the woman that stood right before him that commanded the most attention, mismatched eyes staring at him like they could pierce straight through his armor.

“Lance,” Solom said from next to Keith, gesturing in front of him, “this is Midak.”

Lance’s eyes widened and he was dumbstruck, barely managing to return the nod that she greeted him with.

“Are there any others coming?” Midak asked.

“N-no,” Lance stammered. “Not right now. “

“In that case, come with me,” she said. “We have much to discuss.”

Midak led them down a narrow tunnel that led to an open room, blue-gray walls lit by haphazardly hung lights. There was a low table with chairs around it in the middle of the room. Lance, Keith and Solom were urged to sit on one side while Midak and two other unnamed Galra that had followed behind took seats on either side of her.

“Tell me, Kizazrak, how did you come to find the outpost of Marmora?”

Keith hesitated before recounting the story of everything that had happened, from discovering Solom on Mora to his battle with Axar and learning about Midak’s legacy, and eventually putting together to pieces to figure out where the other divergents were hiding. Lance stared at him the whole time, noticing how stilted his voice sounded. He felt like he was missing something.

“You have gone through a lot to come here,” Midak said after Keith had finished, nodding slowly.

“We have,” Keith agreed shortly.

“I know this is asking a lot of you, bringing a group of strangers to you and asking you to take them in,” Lance jumped in, trying to diffuse some of the tension in the air, “but we could never forgive ourselves if we just left them to fend for themselves, after everything that’s happened.”

Midak nodded thoughtfully. “I would like to speak with the rest of your group. I will gladly accept the exiles you harbor into our outpost, but we are not a standard colony here on Marmora. We like to think of ourselves as a sort of resistance to the empire, meaning that we are not necessarily a safe group to stay with.”

“Aye, but tha’ risk exists in any colony fer Galra exiles,” Solom hummed.

Midak smirked. “True enough,” she said. 

“The castle-ship’s power just came back on. Looks like everyone’s okay. How are you guys doing down there?” Lance heard Hunk ask over the comm. Keith jumped at the sound, meaning that his equipment must have started working again, too. Lance was relieved.

“We’re alright,” Lance said, voice somewhat low though he expected everyone was listening in. “Keith’s mo—er, Midak would like to meet with us and discuss taking in the Azulans,” he explained.

“ _ Midak is there?! _ ” Pidge yelled, nearly blowing Lance’s eardrums out.

“Yeah, we’ll explain more when we come up,” Lance said, wincing. “Do you think the Red Lion is ready to fly?” he asked Keith.

“I guess we’ll find out,” Keith said. “I think you should take Solom and Midak, though. Your lion is better in the water, less likely to have any, uh, complications.”

“Actually,” Midak cut in, “I would like to go with you, if you wouldn’t mind.” She clasped her hands in her lap somewhat nervously. “I feel we may have a few things to discuss, in private.”

Keith nodded once, looking anxious and… a little pissed? Lance put his hand on his shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. “Fine,” Keith said.

The group stood and returned to the large cavern, Lance relaying to the rest of the team above that they would be up in a few minutes, then went to their lions and prepared to return to the surface.

 

 

Keith’s hands were tight on his controls as he followed Lance through the water. Midak didn’t say anything at first, but he could feel her eyes on him like he was being evaluated. Red offered minimal comfort, most of her energy concentrated in keeping up with Lance in her opposite element.

“Is it really you, Kizazrak?” Midak asked suddenly.

Keith glanced back at her for a moment before answering, “I go by Keith here.”

“Keith,” Midak said, feeling the word out in her mouth. “That’s the name your father gave you,” she recalled. “He was afraid that the other humans would treat you poorly with such an alien-sounding name.”

Keith frowned at the mention of his father. “He was probably right.”

Midak sighed. “I always liked the name Keith, though I couldn’t say it right for the longest time. It has a sound that we don’t use in my native dialect. Perhaps that was why I liked it.” She laughed fondly, but Keith couldn’t share the sentiment.

“He disappeared, too, you know,” he said, not really trying to hide the salt in his voice, though he was afraid to look back at Midak to see her reaction.

She was silent for a while, like she was taken aback, not sure what to say. “How old were you?” she asked eventually.

Keith did the conversion in his head. “One season,” he said.

Finally he turned his head toward her, noticing the way her jaw clenched and her nostrils flared. She didn't say anything to respond.

Keith let out a long sigh. “I'm not mad about him anymore,” he said, to fill the space. “I mean, yeah, I'm mad about what I had to go through because of it. But I can't change what happened. So I can't… I can't hold it against him. I guess.” Keith huffed, talking about emotions starting to wear him down. 

Midak took in a deep breath. “I tried to visit you once, you know,” she started, and Keith’s breath hitched. She gave him a window to respond, but he didn’t, so she went on. “I had left soon after you were born to protect you, keep you away from the target painted on my back.” She laughed hollowly. “But I am a mother! And despite doing what I thought was best for you, I could not stop how dearly I missed you.

“It would have been during your third season. I took our fastest ship and went back to Earth, back to the place he used to live. But you were not there, and neither was he. Not even a message to tell me what might have happened to you, if you were even still alive. I was devastated.

“After that I convinced myself it was better this way. You would live out your life as a human and never be subject to the horrors of space and the empire. I made a vow to myself that I would be killed before I let the empire take Earth. We had already been building up a resistance on Marmora, but from that moment I poured every ounce of my energy into our cause.”

Midak smiled so sadly that Keith had to look away. “But then you came to me today, three seasons later, a Paladin of Voltron. And now I'm…” She shook her head slowly, at a loss for words.

Keith hadn’t realized when he'd started crying, but he wiped his eyes quickly when he felt the drops falling down his chin.

“I couldn't believe my eyes. You look so different, but somehow exactly like him,” she went on, voice straining a little. “I'm so sorry I ever left you behind. I should have been there for you, but instead…  you were right. I abandoned you.”

“No. No, I…” Keith's voice wavered as he spoke, shaking his head. They were approaching Red's landing dock, but Keith was afraid he'd need a few minutes to compose himself before they met back up with the group. “I shouldn't have said that earlier. I was just angry. I know you didn't mean to hurt me but…” He landed Red then stood abruptly. He bit his lip, staring for a second before throwing his arms around a very confused  Midak.

“I wish you stayed, too,” he whispered.

She returned the hug without hesitation and Keith could almost feel the relief flowing off of her. They must have stood like that for a few minutes at least, holding each other and reminiscing lost times and lost lives. But eventually Keith pulled back, knowing that the others would be waiting for them. He led Midak up to the Bridge, doing his best to will the redness out of his eyes.

He couldn’t really forgive her, not yet. But he was starting to realize that he couldn’t really hate her, either.

 

They were the last to arrive, as he expected. The crew and all of the Azulans were standing in a loose circle waiting, smiling when they noticed him and Midak come in. 

“You must be Midak,” Khala greeted. She looked around as though she was expecting more. “Do you come alone?”

“My consultants have other matters to attend to. For a meeting with friendly faces, I thought it sufficient to come alone,” Midak answered.

Khala nodded once in understanding. “I am Khala, previous leader of the colony of Azul…” They continued with introductions and other formalities that Keith started to tune out after a while, until he heard his name mentioned and looked up.

“Keith comes to me today telling me you seek refuge,” Midak was saying. “While I can afford you a place to stay, Marmora is more than a colony of exiles. We are a developing resistance, and if you are to stay with us, you must join our cause.”

If Khala had any emotional reaction to that, it did not show on her face. She nodded once before responding, “I see. Please, allow us a moment to discuss this,” and turning back to the group of refugees to deliberate.

Keith side-eyed Midak, who was wearing a carefully neutral face, but he could tell that she was hopeful to have new people joining her. 

Lance caught his eye a moment later, his hope much more obvious on his face, and they shared a look that felt a little more awkward than it probably should have been. They turned away from each other when they heard Khala start to talk again.

“We accept your offer,” she said. “Though I have already grown old and fear how much use I can be to your resistance, I will do for you what I can, as will all of the refugees of Azul.”

Midak held a fist against her chest and bowed her head. “I welcome you to Marmora.”

Allura cut in suddenly when she saw that the delegations were wrapping up. “I do not know how your day cycles are timed on Marmora, but for us it is getting late. Would you like to stay for the night, perhaps take a moment to speak more comfortably with the Azulans? If not, of course, we'll have one of the paladins take you back, and the Azulans can go to you in the morning.”

Midak took a moment to decide. “If it is not too much trouble, I would love the opportunity to stay and speak more casually. With all of you, really.”

“It's no trouble at all,” Shiro said. “As long as we aren't keeping you from anything important.”

Midak smiled. “What could be more important than building relations with a new ally?”

 

They'd moved to the common room and changed out of their paladin uniforms, and Pidge seemed to be having a great time interrogating Midak about the various tech used at the Marmora outpost. Everyone’s attention seemed to be centered around her, and so Keith took the opportunity to slip away from the group undetected.

He went to the observation deck, standing up against the glass (or whatever the window was made of. Maybe it wasn’t even a real window.) and looking out at Marmora. Now that his emotions weren’t running so high, he was able to start processing everything. It was weird to think about how this was the place that his mother had been all his life. It was weird to think about how far away it seemed, yet how close they were in the span of the universe.

Keith had never really missed his mother. It was hard to miss someone that was never there. So it was weird for him to be meeting her now, someone he’d always known existed but never really affected his life, at least not directly.

Which made it that much stranger for him to learn how much he'd affected her, without even knowing it. They'd never even met. She hadn't even known if he was alive, and she'd still made it her personal mission to keep an eye on Earth, protect him from the empire in any way that she could.

He didn’t know how to feel about it.

“Hey, you look like you're thinking too hard again,” Lance said, suddenly coming up behind Keith and startling him out of his thoughts. “You okay? You left kind of suddenly. I wasn't sure if you wanted to be left alone but…”

Keith glanced back at Lance for a second before turning back to Marmora. “Overwhelmed,” he said.

Lance stood next to Keith so that their shoulders touched. “You wanna talk about it?”

Keith shrugged. 

Lance sighed, leaning against Keith a little more. Keith found that he liked the touch. “It’s gotta be weird, meeting your mom for the first time like this. She seems pretty nice, at least, once you get under that all-business front.”

Keith nodded. “Yeah, we uh… we talked. Back when I was flying us up here.” He recounted the basics of their conversation, not looking at Lance's face until he was finished so he could gauge his reaction.

Lance bit his lip and stared forward. “I guess that explains the look she gave you when you walked out,” he said. 

“She gave me a look?”

“Right as you left, yeah. She looked sort of… sad.”

Keith looked down, shifting his weight uncomfortably. “It’s not her fault. I’m just… it’s a lot. I need time to process.”

“That’s okay,” Lance said, putting his arm around Keith’s shoulders. “You can’t really be expected to get used to it all at once.”

Keith nodded, looking back up at the still planet in front of them. 

“Remember the first time we were in here together and we made out on the floor?” Lance asked a couple minutes later.

Keith side-eyed him, lifting a brow. “Lance, that was, like, a week ago.”

Lance laughed. “Feels a lot longer, though, you gotta admit.”

Keith smiled but only for a moment. It really  _ did _ feel like a long time. He didn’t even feel like the same person anymore. “You’re right”

“It’s unreal. Everything that’s happened… It’s different.”

Keith nodded, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “But it’s not… bad-different, right?”

Lance shook his head. “No! No, it’s not. I might even say it’s, um, kind of good-different.”

Keith looked up at him with his eyebrows raised. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, like, you being an alien now is a little weird and all but it also explains some stuff. And you also got to learn more about your past. So those are good things.” Lance smiled, cheeks tinting pink. “Plus you, like, admitted that you like me. And all. So that’s pretty good, too.”

Keith felt himself blushing in return and he averted his gaze. “Right.”

“Does this… make us, like, a thing now?” The panic must have been obvious on Keith's face with how quickly Lance checked himself. “NOT that that's something you need to know or decide or think about right now,” he added. 

Keith sighed. “Yeah, just… give me some time to think about that, too.”

“Yeah. Yeah, sorry. I just really like you. And I want to spend time with you. And stuff. But that doesn’t mean we have to, um, you know.”

Keith smirked. “We spend time together all the time. We're literally trapped in this ship together for most of the foreseeable future.”

Lance sneered at him playfully, bumping him with his hip. “I didn't mean like that.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know what you meant. And if it means anything I, uh… I like spending time together with you, too.”

Lance smiled, looking back out the window into the vast space ahead of them. “Good.”

 

There was a lot of energy in the air as team Voltron prepared to take the Azulans and Midak back down to Marmora the next morning. They would take Lance and Shiro's lions down, Lance's because it was water-friendly and Shiro's because he was team leader, but the whole team (aside from Coran, who would keep watch over the castle-ship) would accompany them so that they could meet the people of the outpost and shake all the right hands to form an official alliance.

Keith didn't say anything on the way down, the tension and anticipation eating at his chest and sewing his mouth shut. He hadn't slept very well the night before, dreams restless and leaving him tossing all night. Shiro seemed to sense his anxiety, guiding him forward with a comforting hand on his back after they'd landed in the cavern. Unfortunately it did little to calm his nerves.

Everyone was guided to the meeting room that Keith and Lance had been in the day before. There were two other Marmorites inside waiting for them, and they introduced themselves as Aser and Krylor, Midak's joint second-in-command. They looked younger than Midak, though not by too much. Allura stood forward to introduce the team, while Khala introduced herself and the Azulans.

The rest of the exchange was similarly business-like, a discussion of formalities and logistics that Keith couldn't have made himself focus on if he tried. The whole time, he had his eyes trained on Midak, who had yet to look at him directly since the night before. His leg shook while he sat and his hands twisted in his lap. He felt like he should try to talk to her again, but about what? What did he have to say to her? They were practically strangers, and yet he knew there was something missing between them, words left unsaid, or maybe questions left unasked. It was driving him mad.

Suddenly everyone was standing as the meeting was apparently coming to a close. 

“As the leader and representative of the Marmora Outpost, I promise we will do everything in our power to aid Voltron in the fight against the empire,” Midak said, holding her fist over her chest.

Allura mirrored her, placing a hand gently over her heart. “We appreciate your help in this alliance. If there is ever anything that you need from us, please do not hesitate to contact us.” She turned to the Azulans sitting in a group on the far side of the room. “I hope that your new lives here will suit you, and that you will continue to keep in contact in the future.”

Khala nodded at Allura, the slightest hint of a smile touching her stoic eyes.

“Keith, could you come here for a moment?” 

Keith felt his heart jump out of his chest when Midak said his name, and he crossed over to her hesitantly.

Midak pulled something from a pocket in her suit, holding it tightly to her chest before gesturing for Keith to give her his hand. She placed whatever it was in his palm, clasping his hand with both of hers for a moment. “This belonged to your father,” she said. “He gave it to me before I left, told me to use it to remember him by, in case we never saw each other again. And now I want you to have it, so you can remember us both.”

She released his hand and Keith looked down to see a chain with two bent dog tags and a silver ring strung on it. He looked back up at Midak, emotion swelling in his chest and threatening to spill from his eyes. He couldn't speak.

“Don't hesitate to keep in touch as you go on in your journeys. There will always be a channel open for you.”

Keith nodded, clenching the necklace in his hand. “Thank you,” he whispered.

Midak nodded, placing a hand on Keith's shoulder, a rare softness washing over her face. “Safe travels.”

Keith took it in for one more moment before nodding again and turning back toward the group. They welcomed him back over with open arms, and as they started to bid their farewells, Keith felt a strange sense of closure start to wash over him, like he was just then starting to come to terms with everything that had happened over the past few weeks. For all of the wild things he'd seen and done since becoming a Paladin of Voltron, this was never a situation he would've seen himself in. But there he was, saying goodbye to his Galran mother and friends on a planet not too far from his own.

But as wild as it seemed, it couldn't have gone any other way.

 

Keith had taken to wearing his father's dog tags ever since he got them from his mother. He toyed with them whenever he was sitting around, slipping the ring on and off of his fingers, feeling his thumb over the engravings when he needed to ground himself.

He'd also been hanging out with Lance more, teaming up against the gladiator on the training deck or just lounging in each other's rooms whenever they had downtime. Keith found he liked the consistency and the company, even though they didn't always talk when they were together.

They'd just taken down a level 4 gladiator together and were taking a break before trying level 5.

“Man, we're really on a roll today,” Lance huffed out. “Have you been using your freaky space alien instinct powers or are we actually improving?”

Keith snorted. “Dude, I can't just choose when to use my ‘freaky space powers.’ I think we might just be getting better at this.”

“Well if the great Keith Geum says it, then it must be true.”

Keith stopped, gaping back at Lance for a second. Then he started laughing, much to Lance's surprise. And not just a few chuckles, either. He was doubled over, clutching his stomach and laughing so hard that he felt tears start to form in his eyes.

“Keith? Are you okay?” Lance asked, eyebrows raised in concern. “That joke really wasn't even that funny.

“No, no, it’s just,” Keith said, wiping the corners of his eyes and trying to compose himself. He pulled the necklace out of his shirt, smiling widely. “You finally guessed my last name.”

“Wait,  _ seriously? _ ” Realization flickered in Lance's eyes and then he was laughing, too, the efforts of his silly guessing game having finally paid off.

They laughed together until they didn’t even remember what they were laughing about, but the sound was like music in Keith’s ears, and for the first time in a long time he felt like he was home.

“Hey,” Keith said, after their laughter had started to die down. “So about that… being a thing, thing.”

“Yeah?” Lance said, lifting his eyebrows.

“I think we should… be a thing.”

The smile on Lance's face could have outshone the sun, and Keith couldn't stand to look at it too long, blushing and turning away. “Geez, you don't have to look so excited about it. It's not like I asked you to marry me or something.”

Lance threw an arm around Keith's shoulders, still beaming. “Yeah, but just you wait. I'll have you falling head over heels for me in no time.”

“Pretty sure the only one that'll be falling is you when I kick your ass in the next training simulator.”

“Ooh, look at you, tough guy. We'll see about that. Training level five, LET'S GO!” Lance smirked, activating his bayard, and Keith was smiling right behind him.

Sometimes all it takes is one moment to change everything. Sometimes, one decision sets you down a path you were never prepared to take, leads you to a place you never thought you'd go. But it’s paths like these that take us to the most beautiful places, and here where we learn to cherish those single moments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. We made it. Hope that ending was cheesy enough for you.
> 
> [Illustrations](https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/161858340298/here-it-is-the-last-speed-paint-illustration-set) and a sketch of [Keith's mom](https://catfishdraws.tumblr.com/post/161856510893/today-marks-the-last-update-of-heads-i-win-tails)
> 
> This has been such a joy to write and thank you all for reading to the end!! I've really appreciated the feedback throughout and i hope that you enjoyed this story! Thank you all so much!!  
> (and feel free to chat me up on [tumblr](http://sexythewalkingcatfish.tumblr.com/) if you want


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